Hidden Secrets
by Onedoesnotsimplyreadfanfiction
Summary: Claire was just an outcast from school, no one paid anymore attention to her than needed, other than Bucky and Steve. She was a mutant, trying to keep her condition a secret, but it's somewhat difficult when you involuntarily morph once a week. When she was taken by HYDRA it changed her life forever. -Yes, it is terrible summary, but the story is much better...-
1. Chapter 1

A/N

This is my first fanfic, so please be gentle. I have really no idea what I am doing, I'm just gonna sit back and see what happens. Please leave reviews, it'd help out immensely and tell me if you want more or not.

Disclaimer: I do _not_ own Marvel. Old rich men do. I only own my OC Claire.

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Washington D.C, 2014

I wasn't really thinking about the fact I would likely never walk on my right leg again as I stared at the face that haunted me through countless nightmares. It's been so many years since I have seen his face that without the occasional scroll through his old HYDRA files I might've forgotten the beauty behind his stormy blue eyes. And yet as I stared at them before me I still couldn't believe my own. I could somewhat believe the fact that he was standing in front of me; I had heard the rumors spreading around, but I couldn't believe that he'd just shot me three times in my right leg, once in my right shoulder, and one so close to my head my left ear will be missing a decent sized chunk if I survive from this. As darkness slowly sang her horrifying lullaby to me, and questioned my actions on how I even got here, I whispered his name.

"Bucky?"

And I was consumed by darkness.

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Claire's P.O.V

Brooklyn, 1941

I was on the verge of panicking. Okay, I was in the middle of panicking, immensely panicking. I will be over five whole minutes late if I ran to the Expo _now. _Most other girls like to be 'fashionably late', but I just think it's a wad of useless crap and the world could go without it. It's already 6:13 and I'm supposed to be meeting up with Steve and Bucky at 6:30 _at_ the Expo Center, which without a car or any kind of vehicular transportation, is a 25 minute _run_ for the average Joe. I would've been fine if I didn't have to run home after my stupid, inconvenient morph that subsequently ripped my only good dress to shreds and ruined my hair. If you were wondering what I meant by _morph_, every week I turn into a giant black wolf-thing that seems to come at the absolute worst of times. No, I am not a werewolf, I am mutant, as my mother liked to put it before she died, I can morph whenever I please, but if I don't for a while, I start to get a little twitchy and *poof*. Ruins my evenings once every week and is a constant struggle to keep a secret.

Now I had to borrow a dress from my neighbor Sarah, who has a wardrobe a little more _outgoing_ than I do, but is luckily my size. And as I stand _re-doing_ my hair once again this evening, I can't help but think that it'd be a lot easier if my mother was still here. When I got the news that she'd been killed in a hit-and-run 5 years ago, I locked myself in my room for three days and sobbed. I'm now stuck with more dirt-broke dad who spends every spare penny on booze, which meant I had to get any job I could at fifteen. Now, two years out of high school, I'm still stuck with my shitty dad at my shitty house with my shitty minimum-wage job down at the Diner. But, at least I have Steve and Bucky, who have saved my ass more times than I like to count. We met about four years ago when I was a Junior and they were Seniors. Since my little, uh, _condition_, likes to make random appearances, I didn't have many, okay _any_, friends and was therefore labeled as a freak. So as I was sitting during lunch at my little lone-wolf table, oh, I am funny, I didn't quite expect Steve Rogers to sit with me. We sat in silence for about a minute before I heard, "So what's your name?" come from Steve.

"Claire."

"Claire-?"

"Clairice Sarah Andrews."

"Oh, my mother's name was Sarah."

"Oh."

I still can't believe that I didn't have thousands of friends with my social skills. We ended up talking about The Wizard of Oz, with it just hitting theatres, although neither of us really had the extra money or time to go see it. If you were expecting us to just hit it off as just great 'bosom-buddies', you are mistaken. But don't worry, it's coming. Later that day when I was walking home I saw Steve in an alley just about to get the crap beat out of him by some hot-headed jocks. Now, I also have more strength, speed and stamina being a mutant, so I decided to intervene a little. Let's just say the jocks said they were 'beaten up by a group of guys down by the bar' instead of one six-teen year old girl. When the jocks started cowering away, I met Bucky. He was a Senior with Steve and was pretty popular with most of the girls at my school.

"Hey Buck," Steve started.

"How many times have I told you not to walk down alleys?"

"I'm not a kid, Buck. I can handle myself."

"Yes, as it is _so_ evident. What would you do if I hadn't come when I did? They would've beaten you to a pulp just like last ti-"

"Excuse me, but I don't think it was your intimidation that ran them off." I said, giving a slightly pointed look towards Bucky. "In fact I think they won't be bothering Steve again by the looks on their faces."

"And who are you?"

"Claire."

"…"

"Clairice Sarah Andrews."

"Oh, I, uh, heard about your mom, Jenna. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, everyone was." I muttered under my breath.

"Well, I guess we'll be seein' ya." Bucky said, starting to turn away.

"Yeah, probably not." I said out of earshot.

"Hey, why don't you come with us? It's the least we can do for saving me back there." Steve called.

"Uh, I'm afraid I can't. I have to go start my shift down at the Diner, but feel free to stop by, I can see if I can get you a free piece of pie." I said, walking away. "Until next time!"

And with that, I was off to the Diner for my 'oh so fun' shift. Needles to say, around 7:30, Steve and Bucky came in and sat down right at the middle of the bar. 'I wonder what it took to drag Bucky in here' I thought to myself, 'Well, might as well say hi.'

"Hey, can I get you anything?" I asked.

"I'm, uh, sorry for the way I treated you earlier. I was being a jerk, and I wanted to say thank you for helping Steve." Bucky said.

"Well you didn't call me a freak, so you did better than just about everyone else. Apology accepted. And when I offered that pie I meant it."

There's our little friend moment you were looking for. We ended up talking until closing time, and the next day we all sat together. Neither of them knew what I was, they just knew that sometimes I couldn't hang-out with them. Other than that, we were around each other _a lot._ All of had it bad at home, so we just helped each other and became great friends. When my father would either kick me out of the house or beat me out of it, I would just go to Steve or Bucky's. They always noticed the cuts and bruises I had, but they knew, and I wasn't going to admit it. I usually ended up at their houses more than at my own, but they didn't mind.

Which brings me back to the present; we were planning on all meeting up at the Stark Expo tonight and witnessing 'the future', which will undoubtedly be Stark, a bunch of showgirls, and an invention that will probably never be fully made. I finally got ready for the second time that night and rushed out the door. And right into a very large man.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I really should watch where I'm goi-"

"Clairice Sarah Andrews?" the man asked with a thick German accent.

"Uh, yes?" I replied.

"Excellent. Take her." he said.

I felt a needle hit my neck, and everything faded away.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N

BIG THANK YOU to the people who already followed and favorited it. It really gives me motivation to write more. Also a big thank you to my editor Megan, you're great bae. If you have any questions, suggestions or just a review _please_ leave me one.

Other than that, without further adieu, i give you chapter 2

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Third Person P.O.V

"Have you seen Claire? She was supposed to meet us here half an hour ago." Steve asked Bucky.

"No, but her boss probably made her work over again." Bucky answered.

"She said she managed to take the day off. Do you think something's wrong?"

"No, she can handle herself. If it's not her work, then it's probably her dad. Besides, it could just be one of her 'off' days." Bucky replied, although he did have a strange feeling that something might be wrong, but he pushed it to the back of his thoughts. "Come on, we're gonna miss the show." he said, pulling Steve along.

"Hey, Bucky!" Connie called, walking with Steve's 'date'.

"What'd you tell her about me?" Steve asked Bucky, the girls out of earshot.

"Only the good stuff."

After they got their positions at the Expo, Steve started to walk off to the recruitment center. He was still worrying about Claire, as Bucky was too, but just couldn't shake the feeling that something was truly wrong. He tried to shake it, but didn't have as much success as Bucky. After he got enlisted with the help of Dr. Erskine, he went to meet up with Bucky again. The girls had already left, and the Expo was over, so they started walking home. When they were only a few blocks away, they saw a crowd standing around Claire's house and started walking, with a bit more speed, towards them. When they got there, they saw a few police asking her still drunk father and a couple other neighbors questions. Bucky saw Claire's neighbor Sarah standing by her porch and started walking towards her with Steve.

"Hey, what happened?" Steve asked Sarah.

"Claire, she just went missing. The police haven't found anything, and there are no witnesses." She replied.

Bucky felt his stomach drop. 'I should've know better', he thought, 'if I had just come to see if she was okay, maybe this wouldn't have happened.' He started panicking, his heart beating so fast that he thought it'd pop out of his chest. On top of that, he was utterly speechless.

"_What?_ What do you mean 'she just went missing? How could someone disappear without so much as a trace?" Steve asked, astounded.

"They wouldn't have even found out if she hadn't dropped her purse. Whoever took her knew what they were knew what they were doing."

Steve and Bucky stood there speechless. They each had a million questions they wanted to ask, but couldn't find their voices. But with all the questions they had, one stood out the most. 'Where did she go?'

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Claire's P.O.V

HYDRA Base Camp, Germany

'What the hell just happened?' was the first thing to go through my mind, although I pretty sure I _know_ what happened, I'm struggling to believe it. My head feels like someone decided to play basketball with it and it's colder than a polar bears ass in here. I'm in what looks like a large bunker. Cement walls, floor and ceiling, complete with spider webs and a putrid smell of sweat and death itself. A couple of throw pillows wouldn't hurt.

"It's considered rather rude to kidnap people, you know. Also, your interior decorating needs some work." I said. Glad to see my wit still functions properly.

"Ah, you've finally woken up. We were starting to get impatient. Do you know why you are Ms. Andrews?" It was the same German man from earlier. He's short and round, although looks to be very intelligent.

"Uh, it wouldn't be because I won that 'Best Essay' competition I entered last month, would it? I had really high hopes for that, although they said they winner would get a five dollar prize, not a free kidnapping."

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Andrews. You tried very hard to keep that little secret of yours hidden, although it seems it still managed to get out. After we killed your mother, we looked everywhere for others with your _abilities_, we didn't think it'd be her own daughter. Most people can't hide it as well as you do, you managed to hide it from us for your whole life, well, almost your whole life."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. No, my mother was killed in a car accident, it wasn't an assassination. "My mother was killed in a random hit-and-run. And she wasn't like me, no one is."

"Wrong on both accounts, Ms. Andrews. Hit-and-run, yes, but random, no. Why do you think the police never found out who it was, even with so many witnesses? And your mother was very much like you, she just wasn't as good at keeping secrets. And you are certainly not the only one, although we have gotten that number down to the single digits. When we found your mother, we offered her a job. Work for HYDRA, make a new world, but she declined. You will not have the same generosity we gave her. You will work for us whether you like it or not, but first, we have a gift of sorts."

"I will never work for you. You'd have to kill me first."

"We'll see when were through with you. Get me the serum" He ordered a soldier.

"Yes, Dr. Zola."

"This might sting a little." The man, Zola, told me as he gave me a shot full of a blue liquid.

I was relieved when they left. 'That didn't hurt very much, well I mean it pinched a little when he gave me the shot, but other than that-

"_Oh._"

I grunted as what was defiantly the worst pain I have ever felt in my life wash over me. To say it was excruciating would be a serious understatement. I screamed as I felt my blood boil and all my bones crumble. The pain was overwhelming to the point I couldn't make a coherent thought. I eventually lost track of time and lost faith in anyone rescuing me. And as I laid there for what felt like days, my pleas for help fell upon deaf ears, and my wishes for a soon death went unnoticed.


	3. Chapter 3

Yay, new chapter:3

Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed my story. Seriously, it helps _a lot._

Disclaimer: Rich men still own Marvel. Or does Disney own it? Pfft, Disney owns everything, what kind of question is that? Anywhale, I still only own my OC, Claire.

Enjoy;)

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Claire's P.O.V

HYDRA Base Camp (3 months later)

I can see why prisoners start riots frequently now. Living in a cell isn't as great as it's chalked up to be. It took 3 days for the 'serum' that they gave me to wear off. At first I thought it was just for pain and co-operation, but as I stirred in my restraints, I realized that all my abilities had been enhanced ten-fold. I could see a speck of dust on a fly's wings 50 feet away, could smell an old grunts terrible choice in cologne from two rooms away, and could hear 'Eine Kliene Nachtmusik' being played several floors above me. My senses weren't the only things that were enhanced, though. My fingernails were longer, curved, and pointed, and although I couldn't see them, I could tell my ears were larger and they could swivel to the side. If my eyes followed the same pattern, they surely resembled those of a wolf. At this point I just hoped I didn't have a tail. 'Hmm' I wondered. 'Oh, thank God.' I thought when I felt no extra body parts.

I have been in this hell for three months now. I wasn't completely helpless though, and realized that the quicker I co-operated, the quicker I'd gain their trust and once I had their trust, I had slack. If they ever left me unattended outside my room I'd be free in less than two minutes. And although it's been three months, that opportunity hadn't come. In fact, I had never even left my room once, unless to use the bathroom, which was a conjoining room with the door in the right corner. I was okay with that though, I could wait. I wasn't going to take the risk of trying to get away when the opportunity wasn't right just because I was impatient. So, my days of 'co-operation' usually consisted of training, one meal, two bathroom breaks (one for showering, which was always ice-cold), and language classes. Training wasn't hand-to-hand, it was more of seeing how fast I could morph. Although, it did pay off a little, because what was once a painful, almost half-minute morph was no down to a almost painless 'blink of an eye' morph. My morph side, animal state, alter-ego, whatever you want to call it, was now bigger and its black fur now had hints of silver at the endings of my tail, paws, and ears. My meal consisted of two pieces of stale, but buttered, bread and a bowl of chicken broth. My language classes taught me how to speak German, Russian and French. I guess that the serum also enhanced my learning capabilities, because I was almost fluent in all three already. I hope I don't need to tell you what my bathroom breaks consist of, they're the same as everybody else's. When all was said and done, I went back to my comfy-cozy cell in one corner of my bunker/room. A six-by-six foot area with a rock-like mattress taking up the space of one of the walls and thick iron bars as my terms of never escaping.

After a month or so I learned that the place holding me was called HYDRA and that they are after a man called Captain America. Every few weeks I could hear soldiers be locked in cells on the floor above mine that HYDRA had captured. Sometime in the middle of the night- a clock would be nice too- I heard my door opening and the sound of several marching feet joining it. I assumed it was just a drill they wanted to run, my next step in training, but I didn't expect to hear a moan and a man being strapped down to the chair. I immediately opened my eyes and sat strait up in my bed, looking towards the place where the sound came from. I couldn't quite see his face from my position, but I could tell he'd been badly beaten. I waited until all the guards left to finally ask him questions.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" I asked, almost with a stern voice.

He mumbled something, but even with my enhanced hearing I couldn't quite comprehend it.

"Speak louder."

"Claire?"

Wait. I knew that voice. One that I hadn't heard for a long time, but one that I still recognized. My stomach dropped at the sound of it.

"Oh my god. Bucky? Is that you?"

"Claire?! Oh my god, it is you! I thought we lost you, I thought you-you were killed." He exclaimed quickly. His voice was on the verge of cracking.

"Bucky, what are you doing here? You can't be here, they'll kill you!" I responded, my voice not too far from cracking either.

"I missed you _so_ much."

"I missed you, too. When I was kidnapped, I thought I'd never see you again." Nope, not crying. I am _not_ crying. 'Shit, I'm crying. Great.'

"Seems our little reunion is under bad circumstances." Bucky joked. I gave a light, watery laugh.

"No, this place is great. Once you get past the smell, it's just puppies and rainbows. Oh, and the meals are top notch."

"Why are you here? Why did they kidnap you? They had no real reason."

'Uh-oh'."I can't tell you."

"Can't…. or won't."

"I-"

"Sergeant Barnes," Zola started, entering the room, "congratulations, you will be our new test subject. Perhaps we will have a better outcome than our experiment. He didn't take it very well, and the pain was too much for him. You look strong, maybe you will fare better."

"No, please! Don't hurt him! I'll answer your questions, I'll work for you! Please!"

"Well, that's strange to see such a rise of emotions for a stranger. Someone from your past I presume. I'm afraid your chance has passed, give her another dose." He said, signaling one of his men. I had no chance of fighting them off. I didn't want to share my secret with Bucky, so fighting wasn't an option. I assumed another 'dose' would be the serum that they gave me when I arrived here, but without the enhancements. I felt a sting in my bicep, and as the all too familiar pain started to grow over me, the last thing I heard before I faded out, were Bucky's screams as he got a treatment similar to mine.

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Third Person P.O.V

Army Camp, 1941 (3 months after Claire's kidnapping)

"That was quite a performance." Peggy said, walking up to Steve.

"Yeah, I had to improvise a little bit. The crowds are usually more…. Twelve." Steve responded with a grimace.

"I understand your America's new hope."

"Bond sales take a 10% bump in every state I visit."

"That's Senator Brandt's idea."

"At least he's got me doing this, Phillips would have me stuck in a lab."

"Are these your only two options?"

"A lab rat or a dancing monkey."

"You were meant for more than this, you know. What?" Peggy asked, seeing the look on Steve's face.

"You know, for the longest time I dreamed about coming over seas, being on the front lines, serving my country. Finally got everything I wanted, and I'm wearing tights."

They both had a sad expression and noticed a group of beaten soldiers walking back into the camp.

"These men move the most. Shmidt sent out a force to a zone, less than 50 returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were captured or killed."

Steve became slightly panicked at the news. "The 107th?"

"What?" Peggy asked at his expression.

"Come on."

They walked over to the Colonels' tent and stepped inside.

"Well, if it isn't the star-spangled man with a plan. What is your plan today?" Phillips asked seeing the Captain.

"I need the casualty list from Bolzano."

"You don't get to give me orders, son."

"I just need one name- Sergeant Barnes from the 107th."

"You and I are going to have a conversation later that you won't enjoy." He said referring to Peggy. Steve continued,

"Please tell me he's alive, Sir, B-A-R-"

"I can spell." He said, interrupting Steve. "I've signed more condolence letters today than I care to count, but, the name does sound familiar. I'm sorry."

"What about the others?"

"Are you planning a rescue mission?"

"Yeah, it's called winning the war."

"They're 30 miles behind enemy lines, through some of the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more than we can save. I don't expect you to understand that because you're a chorus girl-"

"I understand just fine."

"Well understand it somewhere else. If I read the posters right, you have somewhere to be in half an hour."

"Yes, Sir, I do." And with that, Steve left the tent. He did have somewhere to be in half an hour, but it was not going to be on stage.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey y'all. I'm back from working out on the farm. (And by farm, I mean was stuck without wifi for a while, but what can you do?)

Sorry it took longer than usual to post but as you can see, I was a little helpless. I'm trying to get these first ten chapters out ASAP, but not everything goes according to plan.

Anywhale, if any of you have suggestions, questions, or something you want out of this story, leave it in the review section and I PROMISE I will answer it.

With that out of the way, I present chapter 4.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Marvel. Still working on owning the world though. Wish me luck.

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Claire's P.O.V

I was so rudely awoken by a lovely grunt and his favorite bucket full of ice water around 5:00 in the morning, and _prayed _to _God_ Bucky was still sleeping off his dose. I was just about to tell him before Zola interrupted me about my little secret, but I guess that he'll just have to find out the hard way, unless he was still sleeping. 'He better be still sleeping. My shitty situation might just get worse if he isn't.'

As I started to get ready for today's training, the grunt left and gave me whatever shred of privacy I had left to change into my normal outfit of a ratty shirt, which looks like it's previous life was a potato sack, and even worse 'jeans'. They fall into the same category as my potato sack shirt. As I was finishing up I heard a muffled moan and my name whispered across the room.

'Well, shit. There goes that plan.'

"Bucky, what you're about to see will probably surprise you. I'm sorry I never told you, but I didn't want to get hurt." I say quickly, knowing the trainer will be here soon.

"What do you mean Claire?" He asked quietly.

I didn't have time to elaborate as the trainer came in with an old dummy and turned on the lights. 'I guess it's time for a step up in my training.'

"It's time for a step up in your training." The trainer said loudly. 'Well, that answers that question.'

"We will begin working on how fast you can attack and destroy. Over the next week we will be working on hand-to-hand combat as well."

I walked towards him and the dummy and took my stance. The trainer took out a watch and waited for the next minute to start. I could feel Bucky's eyes on me, and I was so nervous I was starting to sweat. I knew that if I just stand here and don't morph I would likely be given another dose, and I will _not_ be going through that hell again.

"For now we will see how fast you can take down a dummy. You will have less than 30 seconds. Begin."

I felt all my bones snap into new places and grow larger all the hair on my skin grow as I morphed over what seemed like an eternity. My new-old clothes lay in shreds on the ground. Once I was done, I sent a sorrowful glance towards Bucky, deeply growled, and attacked the dummy in front of me. I bit it by the midsection and ripped it in two in a split-second move, and proceeded to shake of every limb of the dummy with stuffing flying everywhere. Once I was done, I sat on my hind legs, and waited for my trainer.

"12 seconds, excellent. Tomorrow you will be expected to do it in less than five." He said, walking up to me. In my morph form, I am almost as tall as he is, and I'm sitting.

For the next hour I went through countless dummies and got my time down to seven seconds. When I was done, he left me with my new potato sacks and left me to get dressed. I carried my clothes in my mouth back to my cell so I was out of Bucky's view. Once back to my human form and dressed I sat on the floor and waited in silence for my breakfast/lunch/dinner. Bucky hadn't said anything the whole time I trained, but his eyes never left me. I expected him to say something once the trainer left, but it had already been 10 minutes. Every second that passed I became more and more anxious that he was disgusted by me.

"What did they do to you?" Bucky asked quietly.

"Well, they gave me a shot that felt like death itself, but it didn't make me become a wolf, just gave me curved, pointy nails and wolf-like ears and eyes." I replied. I guess my wit stays with me even when I'm nervous.

"Then how long have you been like this?" 'He _is_ disgusted by me'

"Like _what? _A mutant? A freak?!" I managed to get out without stuttering. "This is why I didn't want to tell you. Just because you know what I, what I have always been, I become 'this'?"

"N-no, wait, I didn't mean it that way, I-"

"Then what way did you mean it?" I asked annoyed.

"I-"

Bucky was interrupted a blaring alarm and flashing red lights, signaling invasion. Two grunts soon entered the room mumbling orders.

"Give him a dose, and give her two."

"We don't know what that will do to her, she could end up seizing or dying-"

"We can't have her able to fight us off, give her two. And take him to the next room."

As soon as I heard about their little plan, I instantly morphed and tried to fight them off. I caught the first grunt by the neck and shoulder and bit down as hard as I could. I tried to shake him off the chunk I had in my mouth and finally ended him with a hard hit to the ground. At this point, it would've been convenient if I had started training in combat because while I was getting rid of the first grunt, the second grunt got both doses in my shoulder and I didn't even acknowledge him. I reverted back to my human form in a second and the pain was overbearing. I felt my body tighten and start to shake without control and my heart quicken to the point I thought it'd explode. If there is a God, must have it in for me. 'At least save Bucky, he did nothing. He doesn't deserve this,' as my heart slowed to a halt.

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Third Person P.O.V

As Steve went off to find Bucky, he was filled with dread as to what he'd find in the room. He expected anything from what the captured soldiers told him. He prayed that he was okay, that he survived. As he ran into the room he saw a familiar figure strapped down to a chair.

"Oh my god, Bucky." Steve said, walking over to him.

"Bucky? Bucky, it's me Steve."

"Steve?" Bucky asked, still dazed. Steve nodded. "Steve."

"C'mon, we gotta go."

"Wait, we have to get Claire."

"Bucky, what're you talking about, Claire's been gone for months. She's dead." Steve replied with a hint of sorrow.

"No, they took her; she's in the next room, hurry."

Steve rushed with Bucky to the adjacent room to find a still, naked Claire in the floor with a dead, bloody grunt on the floor beside her. She wasn't moving or breathing, and her eyes were open in what seemed like shock.

"No!" Bucky exclaimed, rushing to her side. He bowed over her chest to see if her heart was beating. It wasn't.

"Steve, her hearts not beating." Bucky's voice cracked. Steve leaned over her chest and started to do CPR, breaking three ribs in the process. After what seemed like a hopeless eternity of trying, Claire's eyes started flicker. Claire shifted a little under Steve's hand and groaned in pain.

"Claire?!, Claire, can you hear me?" Steve asked worriedly.

"I'm naked," Claire managed to get out, "and I can't move."

Despite the situation, both men blushed at her first statement, and Bucky went to go get a sheet from her bed and covered her. Steve leaned down and picked her up in his arms to carry her out.

"We don't have much time, we need to get out of here _now_." Steve said to Bucky.

"There are 6 guards on their way here, all equipped with guns." Claire said to Steve, her voice at a whisper. Steve didn't even ask how she knew this, or if it was even true, he just grabbed his shield of the ground and hoped his escape plan would work.

"Let's go." And they were off.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's a long chapter for you guys since you have supported me so much. Every favorite, follow and review motivates me to keep writing and you guys really helped with that.

If there are any mistakes in the text, I'm sorry and please ignore them. Since this was such a long chapter, I just kinda skimmed over it. Microsoft Word 2007 says I'm right and they're never ever wrong:)

Disclaimer: World Domination-3%, Marvel Domination-0%. Unless some freak accident occurs where I somehow inherit a little bit of it, I will sadly never own Marvel.

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Claire's P.O.V

We were rushing out the facility when deafening eruptions surrounded us. We got to a platform and were about to cross when we were met by Zola and a man I haven't seen before, but from the looks of it, he was probably a leader of HYDRA.

"Captain America, how exciting." He said, walking towards us. "I am a great fan of your films." He looked at Steve, "So, Dr. Erskine finally managed it after all. Not exactly an improvement, but still impressive."

"You've got no idea." Steve replied.

"Haven't I? No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, _I_ was his greatest success." The man pulled at his neck and his face mask came off, leaving behind a blood red skull. He tossed his mask into a sea of flames below us. I could finally start to feel my limbs again, but they felt like someone was chiseling into them.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky asked, confused. His question went unanswered as the man started talking again.

"You are deluded Captain. You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind. Men like you, they embrace it proudly, no fear." He said walking away.

"Then how come you're running?"

Zola and 'red skull' got into an elevator and started to leave when more eruptions sent quakes though the facility. We had to go up another level to get to a clearing where we could get to the other side of the plant. There was a very dangerous looking beam connecting the two sides, and we decided that was our only way to get across. Bucky went first because Steve was still holding me, but when Bucky was almost across, the beam started to slip. Bucky made it across by the skin of his teeth and had to jump to grab onto the platform.

"Gotta get a rope or something." Bucky shouted across to Steve.

"I can't leave Claire, we just found her. Just go, get out of here, we'll find another way." Steve yelled back.

"There is no other way, Steve. I'm not leaving without you guys."

I sighed and whimpered as I wrapped my sheet around my body and got out of Steve's arms. 'I am going to have a lot of explaining to do if we live from this' I thought as I limped my way to the back of the platform.

"When I'm done changing, get on and hold on. _Tightly_. Oh, and also don't panic or freak out, I'll answer your questions later." I said to Steve. Without a seconds notice I, very painfully, I might add, morphed back into my other self and bowed so Steve could get on my back. For a few seconds he looked at me wide-eyed, but remembered the situation and got on. Whoa, it was, without doubt, the weirdest thing I've ever done in my life, up to this point, having Steve get on my back like a horse and rider. He was heavy, but not as heavy as I'd thought he'd be. I stepped back a few feet, and with all the power I could muster, charged forward and leaped across the space. I closed my eyes as everything seemed to go in slow motion. I could feel myself be engulfed by flames about halfway across and I knew I was going to have serious burns. When I opened my eyes again, I was barely on the platform and Steve was practically ripping out my fur from his grip. I whimpered a little to get his attention and with a "Sorry." he got off and sped towards the exit.

When we made it outside, I found an old duster jacket and a helmet to cover my ears and figured it'd have to suffice for now. I couldn't figure out a way to conceal my new nails/claws and went with just having to keep my hands in my pockets. I went behind the nearest object, which happened to be a very advanced looking tank, and morphed back to my human self and changed. I noticed the fire had scorched off some of my hair and I had burns that felt like the fire itself on all of my limbs. I limped back out to Steve and Bucky and we made our way to the rest of the soldiers in a rather awkward silence. We were on our way back to the camp when we had to stop for the night due to everyone's injuries and exhaustion. We couldn't light a fire due to the possibility of HYDRA soldiers still on the look out. I wasn't quite tired because the training I received while in the camp taught me to only sleep for 4 hours and function well on it. I decided I would stay awake and keep watch, so I went to walk a perimeter around our little camp. I was about halfway done when I heard something behind me. I turned around instantly, and with an animalistic snarl, got ready to attack. Once I saw that it was Bucky and Steve I froze. I assumed they were for the explanation I promised them, and walked towards them. I could already tell that I wasn't going to like the coming conversation as given away by the stern looks they both had, waiting for me to talk.

"I'm sorry I never told you." I say, barely able to keep my eyes on them and not the ground.

"Why didn't you?" Steve asks first.

"I thought you'd call me a freak and never talk to me again."

"You think we'd call you a freak? We've been friends for years, and you think we'd just call you a freak?" Bucky asked a slight hint of a hurt tone in his voice.

"Yes. And how was I supposed to tell you? I have a feeling that 'Oh hey, you know those days I can't come over? Yeah, it's just because I have to morph into a _giant black wolf _that could snap you in half with one bite, but no big deal.' wouldn't work out well. I didn't want to take the risk of scaring off the first and only friends I'd had practically my whole life. I couldn't lose that, and I'm sorry." I said, somewhat sadly. It's not like I love the fact I'm telling my two best friends my inner turmoil. At this point my voice was starting to break, and I could feel my eyes burn with unshed tears. 'They better stay that way' I thought to myself, although I knew that with the way this conversation was going, that likely wouldn't happen. "My mother was the only one that knew and she was killed when I was 15. I wasn't even good enough for my father, and he never knew. I could hear what people said about me, I'm not deaf. I was never good enough. When you first met me, you wanted nothing to do with me. You sat with me out of pity. If I hadn't saved your ass all those years ago, I'd still be locked away in that damn cell with no one." They both removed their demanding looks and replaced them with sympathetic ones. I could feel sad and almost angry tears start to slide down my face, so I shut my eyes and just stood there with my arms crossed and slightly shaking. I stopped shaking ,though, when I felt a pair of arms snake around me. And another.

"I thought I'd never see you again. I thought they'd killed you like my mom." I said, my voice a whisper. They just held me tighter. We stood there for a long time, exuberant that we were finally together again. I had finally calmed down and broke our meeting. We started to walk away when Steve broke the silence.

"So why do you have black, furry ears?" He asked lightheartedly.

"When they first captured me, they gave me this weird serum stuff that basically heightened all my senses. I also have long, curved, sharp nails, can smell the remnants of perfume on you, and can hear a large group of HYDRA agents coming this way!" I replied, panicking on the last part.

"Oh my god, we have to get the soldiers, come on!" Bucky exclaimed, both of them with frantic looks on their faces.

When they started running back towards the rest of the soldiers, I broke down laughing.

"Wait, I'm joking! And you totally fell for it! I hope I never forget the look on your faces as long as I shall live." I say rather smugly as they stomped back to me like toddlers not getting what they want.

"That was not funny." Steve says angrily.

"Oh, stop being a negative Nancy, it was hilarious. But I wasn't joking about the perfume I smelled on you. Perhaps a lady love interest, Stevie?" As soon as that came out of my mouth, I could nearly _hear_ Steve blush.

"That's none of your business." Steve said so fast it seemed like one word. He started backing away and within a second he was gone leaving just Bucky and I.

"I'm sorry for what I said at the camp. I was just angry you didn't tell me, but now that I know why I feel worse than when I did when I first met you." Bucky said, breaking the silence.

"You're forgiven; I understand why you said it."

"I shouldn't have though. Especially when I had just gotten you back. When you went missing, I couldn't believe it. If I had just been there, I f I had just went to see if you were ok as soon as you didn't show you wouldn't have had to go though that hell. If I had just-"

I stopped Bucky by hugging him. "Bucky, they would've got me anyways. My mom didn't die in a hit-and-run, she was assassinated in a hit-and-run. They knew what she was before _I_ even knew what she was." I explained to him calmly. Bucky sighed and hugged me tighter,

"Claire, I missed you more than you can imagine. I didn't want to believe that you were gone, I couldn't handle it." We breathed each other in for a while, and finally made our way back the other soldiers who were all asleep by this point. We laid down but after a while I could tell Bucky was shivering due to the potato sack clothing he was still wearing and I wasn't exactly the warmest either when I had a great idea, although it'd be rather awkward to pull through with it. I got up, tapped Bucky on the shoulder with my foot to get his attention, and motioned for him to come with me. I lead him to the thicker part of the woods where no one could really see us.

"What are you doing?" Bucky asked, clueless.

"We were cold and I had an idea."

"I am _not _doing that with you to keep warm." Bucky said sternly.

"Oh, for god's sake, get your head out of the gutter. I can turn into an animal with a rather large amount of fur. I thought we just went over that." I said bluntly.

"Oh." Bucky said, embarrassed.

I went behind a large tree and took off my jacket, morphed, and strode back out.

"I don't think I will ever get used to that." Bucky joked. I smiled and somewhat bobbed my head up and down, trying to get him to sit. When he did, I walked over to him and laid back down. He leaned back into my midriff and slid down a little, angling himself so where my shoulder was basically a pillow and his back was against my stomach. Way more weird than Steve riding on my back by a long-shot. After a few minutes I heard Bucky's breathing slow and his small movements of his body slowly lolled me to sleep with him.


	6. Chapter 6

Long chapter again:)

When you finish the chapter, leave a review telling me where you want the date to be. Right now, I'm just thinking a nice restaurant, but that doesn't sound great to me, so if anyone has any ideas, that'd be great.

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><p>Third Person P.O.V<p>

When Steve woke up, Bucky and Claire were nowhere in sight. Fearing that they might've been taken by remaining HYDRA soldiers, he gathered up Jaques, Morita, Dum-Dum, Falsworth, and Jones to go with him to look for them. He didn't want to get too panicked, just in case they were walking the perimeter, but he still brought his gun and shield. Everyone split up to cover the area faster. They walked the perimeter but found nothing. Steve was just about to head back to the makeshift camp when he heard Dum-Dum calling for the rest of them urgently. When Steve ran over to him, everyone else was there and had all their guns cocked and aimed at the same thing; a giant black wolf ducking behind Bucky. Steve recognized the wolf as his friend, but no one else knew. Bucky was ordering the others to lower their weapons and the wolf behind him was growling slightly, ready to attack if needed.

"No, wait, put down your guns!" Steve shouted, running to Bucky's side. They all gave him a confused look, but complied after a moment. Steve holstered his weapon and put down his shield and gave a weary look to Claire, knowing that he'd have to tell her secret and that she wouldn't like it. Dum-Dum was the first to speak.

"What the hell are you doing, Cap?" He asked, puzzled. Steve looked at Claire expectantly, and with a faint whimper, she walked back behind a large tree where her clothes were, and a minute later she came out in human form fully dressed. The men were left speechless, so Claire decided to elaborate further.

"Uh, it was pretty cold last night, so I decided to be a little innovative…" Claire said, chuckling at the end a little to make it a little less awkward. It didn't work. They all just stood there wide-eyed so she decided to give a quick rundown of her unique situation.

"Ok, so the short version is that I'm a mutant. I can turn into a giant wolf, and have been able to since I can remember, but if I don't, I have no control over it. Oh, and thanks to the _medical genius_ of Dr. Zola, I now have wolf-like ears, claws, hearing, vision and smell. And please, do _not_ tell anyone else. I like keeping my secrets a secret, although it's not working out well right now." She said quickly.

"You can turn into a wolf?" Morita asked.

"Yep."

"Whenever you want?"

"Uh, yes? I thought I just told you that." Claire said jokingly.

"That could come in handy." Dugan interjected with a deep laugh.

There was a collective sigh of relief from Steve, Bucky and Claire as the meeting went better than any of them expected. They returned back to their little camp, gathered up the rest of the soldiers, and headed back to the base camp.

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><p>Claire's P.O.V<p>

When we finally got back to the base camp, I was exhausted and in a very large amount of pain, although I tried not to show it. I got a change of clothes, a trip to the med ward and a meeting with Colonel Phillips and Agent Carter. I thought I could be a useful addition to the team with my _talents_, so by the end of our conversation I was enlisted as an Agent of the S.S.R and was assigned to work beside Captain America. They had Howard Stark start to make something to hide my ears and claws, but for now I'd just have to hide them with a hat and pockets. While all the soldiers went to the bar to celebrate, I decided it'd be nice night to go for a run. I went to the woods nearby and found a tree to change behind. As soon as I had my clothes removed and put somewhere safe, I morphed and let the wind blow through my fur. It's always the most beautiful at night, and everything looks surreal when I'm morphed. Every star looked like a radiant diamond and the moon like a giant pearl. I looked for a trail I could run, and once I found one, I bolted off like a rocket through the cool night air. I could run somewhere around 55 miles an hour, at least that's what my trainer told me. After being locked up in an underground bunker for three months, it felt astounding to be able to run, to change at my own choosing, to be with my friends and to be safe. I ran for hours at my top speed, but I never felt exhausted, I was too happy to be able to run, like I'd never get the chance to again. When I stopped, I was in the middle of an open field, no one for miles, and I could barely see where the camp was. I didn't enjoy being in morph form like this for a _long_ time due to me always trying to keep it a secret, so I decided to be a little cliché and, well, howl. The sound casted out endlessly, and I couldn't help but howl a little louder. When I finally ran out of breath, I sat down and just relaxed. After a few seconds, though, I heard other wolves howl back at me, maybe 100 or so because of mine reaching out so far. I just sat and listened to everything; the cicadas, crickets, owls, wolves, deer, leaves rustling in the wind, the sounds I had to go without for so long, I almost forgot what they sounded like. I realized that I had to go back, or there'd be another search party out for me, so I trotted back to the camp. When I got there, I went to the tree hole that held my clothes, but found nothing. Did I misplace them? I lost my clothes? _Really?_ 'Shit, what am I supposed to do now?' I thought to myself as I try to resist hitting my head on a rock for being so stupid. I released a huge sigh and when I turned around, I saw someone in the distance holding my clothes in their hands.

"It's a little late to be out taking a run, you know."

Bucky. I'd rather have just lost my clothes than receive the humiliation I know I'm about to get.

I slowly walked towards him with an annoyed look on my face and I could nearly hear his smirk.

"Oh, don't give me that look, I was just looking after them for you." He said with evil grin. I waited for the second part of that statement.

"But….." 'Oh, god, what'll it be this time?'

"It will cost you." He held out my clothes and I took them by my mouth and walked to a tree I could change behind. When I changed, I walked out and asked "Oh, and please _enlighten _me on what will the price be this time." I say with 'upmost enthusiasm.'

"How about a ride?"

"Nope."

"You gave Steve a-"

"It lasted two seconds, and we were in an exploding building with no other way to get across. Anyway, why would you ask for a ride _after_ I got dressed? When I morph I rip my clothes."

"Oh. Wait, if I asked you _before_ you got dressed, would you?"

"Pfft, never. But it would've made more sense."

"Okay, if that's out how about a, uh, how about a date?" He asked uncertainly.

What? I did not expect that anytime soon. Which doesn't mean I hadn't wished he'd ask me out before, I just never thought that maybe he liked me too. 'It's probably just because he feels guilty about what he said at the HYDRA camp. Why would he want to go out with you? No one's _ever_ asked you out, now your best friend and man best known for always having the best girl asked _you_ out? Get that thought out of your head now, it's too good to be true.' I still didn't want to be a jerk and decline, so I accepted, and we were going out Friday night at 7:00. When I got back to my cabin, which was a single person, run-down, web-filled, horror of a cabin, I had mixed feelings about our date. Not because I didn't want to go, I've wanted to go on a date with him for years, but because I felt like he asked out of pity. Everyone except Steve and Bucky gave me the least amount of attention that they could. Granted, that's because I was labeled since my mom died, not because I wasn't pretty. My golden-brown hair, hourglass figure, and 5'9" height had a few bar rats after me on my way home after work, but I always managed to outrun them. That, and I wasn't completely helpless. But me and Bucky, he hadn't shown a shred of desire my way _ever_. 'Well, if you're going on the date anyways, might as well look the part.'

"Shit."

I have a whole two pairs of army-style outfits. I'm really stuck now. It's almost 2:00 a.m, and I am worried about what I will wear on a date. That, and I can hardly think strait due to lack of sleep. 'Worrying does nothing anyway, just figure it out tomorrow.' And with that thought, I climbed into bed and tried to sleep off my anxiety.

* * *

><p>Tuesday morning I had a meeting with Howard Stark on what his ideas were on making something to cover my ears and nails. I looked in the mirror to get a view at my ears. They were black and silver wolf-like ears and stuck out like a sore thumb. 'If he can cover these things up, it'd be more impressive than parting the Red Sea.' I thought while getting everything else ready to go. When I walked outside, Agent Carter was waiting there to escort me to the labs.<p>

"Good morning, Agent Carter."

"Good morning Ms. Andrews. Are you ready to go?" She asked.

"Yup." I reply, but as we start walking, I smell a familiar scent. Like the perfume on Steve. Oh, now that mystery has been solved.

"So, you and Steve, huh? I was wondering who that perfume belonged to." I say with an almost devilish grin. She blushes, but her expression remains stony.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Steve and I are strictly partners."

"You'll probably have to make the first move, he won't get any hints you give him. Oh, and his favorite color is blue."

"I, uh, thanks." She gives in to her little secret and I smirk a little. We talked more on the way there, and were starting to become friends when we got to the lab. When we walked in, Howard was there waiting by a table full of scraps of metal.

"So, you're our resident werewolf, huh?" He asks with a slight chuckle.

"What? I'm much better than a werewolf. They only change once a month." I say, returning the lighthearted mood.

"Howard Stark." He says, holding out his hand.

"Claire Andrews." I say, shaking hands.

"Well, let's get started, shall we? They said you were having problems with ears and nails, so I made up a few things that should cover them up, and I was wondering, can you speak while you're changed?"

"No, I just have to use body motion."

"Good, I came up with a type of translator that you can wear around your neck, but we'll get to that later. For your ears, I came up with a clip that you put on your ears and it sends out an image that makes it look like there's nothing there other than your hair. As for your nails, that was a little harder. I'm assuming that the problem was that they keep growing back, perhaps at a fast rate?"

"When I clip them, they grow back in about a minute."

"I made a pair of gloves are very similar to your ear clips. They have small, needle sized cameras that project the image to the nails to hide them, but they'll still be there, so avoid shaking other people's hands too tightly." He jokes while leading me to a table where there's a pair of fingerless gloves, a gigantic leather dog collar, and the ear clips.

"What's the collar?" I ask.

"That would be the translator I told you about. When you put it on, it should talk for you, all you have to do is think about saying something."

My jaw practically hits the ground.

"This is great. All of this is great. I can't believe you did this in three days."

"Well, we don't know if they work until we try, go ahead, don't be shy."

I chuckle and try on the gloves first. They're black, leather, fingerless gloves with a small button on the underside of my wrists. When I put them on, they fit tightly and feel like a second skin. I press the buttons and from the top and bottom of my fingers come a momentary light that shines towards my nails, and within seconds, they disappear. My nails look like they're completely normal. I release a quick breath in disbelief, and reach for the clips. They're only the size of a pencil eraser and look like they fit onto the back part of my ears. They also have small buttons on the end of them, and I put them on both of my ears. I look into my reflection I get from the metal table, and as I press the small buttons, I see the same second of light, and my ears fade into nothing.

"Oh my god, you just saved me from having to wear a helmet for the rest of my life." I say ecstatically.

"No problem. Do you want to try on the translator?"

"Absolutely!" I take of the cloves and ear clips and practically run to an object I can change behind. I quickly take off my clothes, morph, and trot back over to Howard, where he is staring wide-eyed at me. Or almost _up_ at me.

"I, uh, I didn't know you were this big." He says shocked.

I smile and bow my head so he can fit the color around my neck. It fits perfectly, and I try it out. 'So, does it work?'

"So, does it work?" I heard the box say, in my voice too.

"Holy shit! Wait, did I think that? Wait, did I think _that_? How do you control this thing?!" I asked, panicking.

Howard is doubled-over laughing. "I guess just don't think anything inappropriate, and you'll be fine." He manages to get out in-between laughing.

"I'm no purist, what am I supposed to do?"

"Think of something else. Quote a book, maybe." He says, trying to compose himself and failing terribly.

"My life is a circus." I say, walking back to the wall I changed behind. Once I was dressed, I came out with the translator in my hand.

"I guess I can't plot your demise while I'm morphed now." I say un-amused.

"Aw, don't be that way. I know you just love me." He says smiling. I put on the gloves and ear clips, and take the god-forsaken translator. I just know that thing will get me into trouble. I head out of the lab thanking Howard, and back to Peggy and Colonel Phillips, where I will be discussing military training and my position with the Howling Commandos. 'Well, I guess the name fits me.' We decided that I would start training immediately, but mostly hand-to-hand combat, since I got other training while in the HYDRA camp. When I was done with that, I went to lunch with Peggy, where we became instant friends. After talking about her and Steve, which mostly consisted of me picking on her, I told her about Bucky asking me out.

"And what are you going to wear?" She asked.

"I was kind of hoping that a dress would magically appear on my bed. I only have the two army uniforms."

"Well, we will be fixing that." She says with an evil grin.

"Oh, god, what are you planning?" I ask, slightly scared of the answer.

"Well, I guess you'll find out Friday won't you?"

"Or you could tell me now and save me the anxiety of wondering what you're planning?"

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, I have everything worked out; it's really quite a good plan."

"Why do I get a bad feeling?" I asked worriedly. At that, she just laughed.

'This date is going to kill me.'


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**Smag: I was wondering how I should've worded that, I couldn't quite figure it out. I was referring to Claire's mother's name. Her name was Jenna Andrews.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Marvel, I wouldn't be writing fanfictions. My days would be lived out with the cast of the movies. This has been a post.**

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><p>Claire's P.O.V<p>

Wednesday, Thursday, and most of Friday consisted of heavy hand-to-hand combat training from the best trainers they had there. Since I had better 'weapons' than most people, and heightened senses, Colonel Phillips decided that I'd be more of a fighter than a sniper, but they also had me take a few gun training courses. To say I was a fast learner would be an understatement. It was like I could just watch my trainer perform the activity once, and something just clicked, like I knew how to do it my whole life. I was almost the best fighter they had in the camp by Thursday night, and could shoot a gnat from 50 yards away without using any aiming equipment. I was also pretty good with the bow, if I do say so myself. I wasn't like any other girl, I was excited to get out and fight for my country, and take down the bastards that killed my mom and took me. I trained as much as I could, spar with Steve whenever possible, and when I wasn't training or fighting, I was studying languages. I had been trained in the HYDRA camp, but was only completely fluent in Russian when I arrived. Now I had German, French, and Italian down with correct accents. I was getting stronger as well. Before the serum, I was somewhat stronger than most girls and some guys because of my mutation, but now I could lift two 100 pound dumbbells, which was the heaviest they had, in one like they were nothing.

In all honesty, I was almost trying to avoid Bucky until the date because I was so nervous. It wasn't too hard considering he had training with all the men. I was the only woman on camp receiving training, and they didn't want _everyone_ knowing my secret. I ate at different times, rested at different times, and was busy training at all other times. But when Friday came, I couldn't focus at all. I still did well training, but that was because I was almost as good as the trainer himself. When I was done, I took my uncomfortably cool shower, and waited for whatever plan Peggy said she had. I didn't have to wait long however, because as soon as I was done getting dried off, I heard a knock at my door. 'It's like she has senses.'

I opened the door to Peggy holding a ruby red dress with perfectly matching heels and a determined look.

"We have a mission." She said, entering my cabin.

"I think I might fail this one." I said uncertainly.

"Not with my help, you're not. I asked Steve what Bucky's favorite color was, which happened to be the color of my best dress, and grabbed everything that'd help you look the part."

"I still have three hours until the date."

"What? That's barely enough time! I'll try to be quick."

What? Barely enough time? What have I gotten myself into? Peggy sat me in a chair and went to work. My eyebrows were plucked like a chicken, and my hair felt like someone dragged me behind a truck with it. The makeup was sweet relief to the more physical touchups. I could tell I now had on foundation, eye liner, mascara and Peggy's red lipstick, but I couldn't see myself. I had never dressed up in my life, not even for my mom's funeral, we just didn't have the money. It took her almost two and a half hours just to do those two things, and I still had to get dressed. The dress Peggy had brought was silk, and shimmered when light caught it. It was tight fitting until it hit my mid calf, where it flowed freely until it hit the ground. It slight up the side of it until just below my knee, and the strapless, sweetheart neckline made me look more stunning than I had ever seen. My hair was done in finger curls down the side of left shoulder, ending a few inches under my heart. I couldn't believe the transformation, I looked better than an actress.

"How?" I asked breathlessly.

"Lots of experience, and a few tricks and tips from my mom." She said, proud of her work. We still had about fifteen minutes to spare, and I put on the matching red heels.

"Hmm, I've never worn heels before." I said, putting them on.

"Oh, no, you've _never_ worn heels? Try walking across the room."

"Pfft, like I can't walk across the ro- WHOA" I exclaimed falling over.

"Okay, uh, get back up and stand attention. Okay, now take small steps, walk heel to toe, and keep good posture. Now just try to do that all night and you'll be fine."

"_These are the devil's work."_ I say with annoyance. Whoever thought stilts were attractive can just date a carney, these things were going to get me killed. Peggy left, and just as I was starting to get the hang of it, I heard another knock. I swallowed a huge breath of air, and as confidently as I could, strode over to the door. When I opened it, my heart skipped a beat. Bucky was wearing probably the only suit in the camp, and he wore it _well._ His hair was slicked back, and he looked more nervous than I was, which that expression on his face looked way better than the expression on mine. He was wringing his hands together at his waist slightly, but was still noticeable. He jaw dropped faintly when he saw me and tried to collect himself a little.

"You-you look beautiful." He said breathlessly.

"You do too. I mean handsome! You look handsome." I saw, internally cursing myself already. 'Nailed that one right on the head, didn't ya?' He chuckled a little, which made me feel a little better, but I was worried that if I kept up the nervous-wreck act the entire night, I might just have to run away afterwards.

"So where are we going tonight, Sergeant Barnes?" I ask jokingly.

"Now, why would I spoil the surprise, Agent Andrews?" He asks, returning the joke. We walked to a car sitting outside, but this car had no business being in a military camp. It was a shining midnight blue Series 96 Club Coupe Oldsmobile and looked like Howard Star-

"Wait, where did you get this car?" I ask suspiciously.

"A friend let me borrow it." He said with a nervous tone.

"And what did this_ friend_ want in exchange?"

"TotellhimwhoIwasgoingwith…" He said quickly, but I understood perfectly.

"I'll never hear the end of it now." I say laughing vaguely. We drove away from the camp, and were soon in the nearest town, which happened to be sitting on a river. We pulled up to the best restaurant and had reserved seats on the balcony, overlooking the river. It was absolutely beautiful, the sun was just disappearing behind the river, and I could already see the stars start to shine. That, and I was not only on my first date, it was with the man I had been dreaming about dating since we became friends. The waiter came with our menus, which were in Italian, so I had to translate quite a bit, but I didn't mind. We talked the night away over a bottle of wine and a starry night sky. When we were done, we decided to go for a walk along the river. We stopped on a bridge with a beautiful overlook of the small town and river.

"I'm sorry for how long it took me to realize that the best date I'd go on would be with you." Bucky said, getting closer to me.

"It was well worth the wait." I replied, leaning in. It wait did feel like an eternity, but I was ecstatic that the time was finally here. We got so close I could smell his cologne, and with one last look into his eyes, our lips met. The kiss at first was soft, and passionate, but turned into a kiss that was fierce, hungry, and never-ending. That's the way we stayed for what felt like hours, but eventually we had to head back. He walked me to my door, and with a goodnight kiss, headed back to his cabin. As soon as I was in, I couldn't even try to hide the smile on my face. I sighed in complete content as I sat on the bed thinking our date. 'I hope I never wake up from this dream.' I thought as I got ready for bed. My life had finally turned completely around. I'm finally happy with where I am in life, and I wouldn't give up this feeling for anything.


	8. Chapter 8

Well, this is an eventful chapter, and also the longest.

**HEY, I COULD REALLY USE SOME HELP FOR CLAIR'S CODENAME. REALLY, PLEASE LEAVE SOME SUGGESTIONS IN THE REVIEW SECTION.**

Disclaimer: I barely own the clothes on my back, I don't own Marvel.

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><p>Claire's P.O.V<p>

The day after our first date was an interesting one to say the least. I woke up, still exuberant from the night before, got ready and headed out to the training center. And ran into a smirking Steve. 'It was bound to happen sometime.' I thought as I waited for the inevitable.

"So, when were you gonna tell me?" He asked.

"That I knew about you and Peggy?" I said, trying to make him falter. He blushed and stumbled on his words a little, but continued on.

"You know what I mean."

"How'd you find out anyways?" I asked curiously.

"When Bucky came back to the cabin, he was in a suit and ecstatic. When we asked him why, he turned beet red and avoided the question. So, when I talked to Howard this morning, he might've let it slip."

"So Bucky doesn't know you know?"

"Bucky doesn't know that the Commandos know…"

"WHAT!? YOU TOLD THEM? WHO ELSE DID YOU TELL?!" I was livid. Why, just, _why_ did he have to tell them? I swear, sometimes he couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel.

"No one, no one! Just the team, and you."

"Why do I feel that today will be the death of me?" I said, turning away from Steve and headed towards the training center. Today was stealth training, which would've been more useful more recently. After I had finished training, I went back to my cabin for a shower and lunch. When I got to the cafeteria, I was the first one there. I got my food and sat down in a corner, trying to make myself seem small. I could hear everyone approaching, hear their boots clack against the hard floor, and hear their voice. Bucky and Steve still weren't here yet, probably trying to get more training. Or didn't want to see stampede about to happen. Luckily, they were talking about their past experiences and flings when they were getting their food. I hung my head low, and prayed they went on with their normal day. I heard their talking and footsteps head my way and….. sit down a table away. 'Hmmm, I was expecting more of a confrontation. I can't tell if this is better or worse.' It was worse, so much worse. I left the cafeteria to meet with Bucky for the half hour break we both have. As soon I saw him I almost ran up to him.

"We've been discovered." I said quickly, dragging him to the training center.

"What do you mean by that." He asked.

"I mean Steve doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, as well as Howard." I say, barging into the room. He gave me a confused look, when we heard hollering across the room. I practically slapped myself. It was all the Commandos, sans Steve.

"How about a kiss for us!" Dum-Dum shouted, causing all the others to laugh even harder.

"Still want that ride?" I asked to Bucky quietly. I saw the small smirk form on his lips and took it as a yes. The ripping sound of my clothes immediately silenced the guys, and as soon as I felt Bucky climb on, I was off. I let out the meanest snarl I could muster as I ran towards them, and they tried to flee so fast Morita fell over. I chased all the others right out the doors, and when I got back to Morita, I just stood over him. He looked like he was about to be eaten, but I just motioned for him to leave. When everyone was gone, I decided I'd give Bucky a little better of a ride, so I went out the back doors, and ran into the woods. I ran into the field I found earlier, and let Bucky get off. It was beautiful out; the meadow was filled with wild flowers and the sun shone perfectly on them. I sat back and sighed. After a while of sitting and resting, I felt a hand come up to my ear. I stiffened a little when he started moving his hand back and forth. 'Is he, _is he scratching my ear?_' _Oh my god, he is.' _Nope, that crosses the line of freakiness, we are not doing this._ '_Wait, why does it feel so good? Oooohhh'. I heard thumps, and looked around to where they came from. It was my huge foot. Was I seriously doing the dog thing? Apparently I was, because I felt my ear no longer being scratched and Bucky was doubled-over laughing. 'Well, have fun walking back.' I thought as I started walking away.

"Wait! Wait, I'm sorry, I just wanted to see what you'd do." He said running for me, still chuckling a little. I let out a large sign, and bowed so he could get back on. We headed back, and I dropped him off by the back of my cabin so he could get me some clothes. When he came back out, I hid behind a tree and changed.

"Do you think the guys learned their lesson?" I asked, walking back out.

"They're probably still crying. If they want to fight in the war, they better grow a backbone." He said smiling. We parted ways after a small kiss, and we weren't teased again.

Over the next several month my life was a mix of training, missions, and dates. I was a great combat fighter, sharpshooter and linguist. My favorite weapons, other than the ones attached to my hand, were throwing knives. My eyesight helped a lot while throwing, and they came in handy when trying to be silent and stealthy. My first mission with the Howling Commandos went great. Howard had made me a suit that, when I morphed, my fur went straight through it and expanded to my body, so when I was morphed it wasn't visible. My suit was black with silver stripe accents, and had two Colt 1898 New Series gun holsters and a belt that held 10 throwing knives and, when I wore it around my neck, doubled as my translator. Since all the Commandos knew my secret, I never wore my ear clips or gloves on missions. We first went to infiltrate a HYDRA base camp, and we had it down to a burning pile of rumble within an hour.

Bucky and I had dates whenever we could, which, admittedly, hadn't been very often. The only times we saw each other daily was either on our half-hour together-oh, so romantic, or going back to our cabins for the night. We only had one break day every other week, which means we've had 14 dates. The good thing though, is that we had Howard, who was a great pilot, who was also an even greater friend, but we were only so far from beautiful cities. Every second we spent together we fell even more in love with each other, although neither of us could admit it yet.

We had been, over the last month of missions, been discovering more and more HYDRA bases, but one in particular had been standing out. Our resources were all showing that the amount of activity going on there had trumped all the bases we demolished several times over. We had been preparing to infiltrate it soon, but wanted to wait a little longer just to make sure we could handle it safely. The Commandos and I have been easily downing everything we tackled, but this posed a major threat. The soldiers on guard there were supposed to be much higher, as well as the weapon count. We have been discovering more and more advanced machinery the more HYDRA bases we took down, leading us to think that they have been adapting very quickly, and the last machine they used on us was almost too much. We had talked about every level, every hall, and every turn that this place had and memorized it. We talked about more tactics and strategies, and we talked about emergency situations and back-up plans. When we finally decided to take it on, it was nearly two weeks later. We were going to get there on foot, due to their defenses being extremely high. We walked 20 miles to get there. If we were dropped off any closes, they would've noticed us. I was morphed most of the time getting there, because I could run a perimeter and check for enemies without getting worn out as easily. When we reached the camp, it was huge, but looked almost empty. There were no soldiers outside like we planned no guns, no tanks, not even cameras. I walked back up to Steve.

"This is a trap. There's no one here, it's almost completely stripped." I said using my translator.

"No, they might've been expecting us. They're in there."

"If they were expecting us, wouldn't they have soldiers waiting for us? Something about this just doesn't seem right."

"They could be hiding inside, trying to keep hidden. If we leave now, they'll just track us back to the camp. We should follow through."

I simply nodded, but I felt off. I could all but sense a trap, but I'm not the Captain, so I followed the plan. We hid back in the forest and I waited the signal. I was to run up and barge down the doors with everyone following me for my cover. I looked over my shoulder, and when I saw Steve nod, I ran with all my might and speed towards the door. When I busted in, I was ready for almost anything, but nothing came. I looked around worriedly and there was _no one_. The catwalks were barren, the walls had no weapons, and there were no foot traps. When everyone else got caught up, I walked forward slowly, looking for any sign of an impending ambush, but there were none. I walked up to Steve and waited for instructions.

"Claire, you go to the second base floor, Dum-Dum and Morita, you go to the first base floor. I'll go to the top floor, and Jaques and Jones will be one above me and Bucky and Falsworth will be on the first floor." Steve ordered out. I nodded and went to my area.

I morphed into my human form and went down the stairwell. I went down both floors and saw not a single person. I did see several weapons; guns, grenades, and weird masks. I was looking at the guns to see what information I could get out of them when I heard the scuff of a shoe. My ears perked up and rotated to where the sound came from and I prepared for an attack. I looked to see what it was and saw two blue lights. I knew it was one of their juggernaut-type suits, so I ducked as quickly as I could and rolled away. I heard an explosion behind me, and got quickly to my feet. I grabbed one of the guns off the wall and loaded it. I fired as soon as it was ready, but the soldier shot first. The blow clipped my left shoulder, but I had too much adrenaline to feel it now. I ran straight towards the soldier and shot off as many rounds as I could. It damaged one of the guns, but that wasn't enough, so I ran faster, and hoped on the soldiers back. I grabbed his head, and in one hard twist, snapped his neck. If there was a soldier on the very bottom floor, there was bound to be more on the other levels. I sprinted up the stairs as quickly as I could to the next floor. When I got close, I could hear gun shots and shouts. As I entered it, I saw three of the juggernaut suits attacking Dum-Dum and Morita. I morphed and charged at one. I bit the man at the midsection, and shook hard enough to snap his spine. I moved onto the next man, and jumped on him from behind. He was almost instantly dead from the force of the attack, and I went to the final soldier. I came at him from the front cracked his skull on the floor with the jump on him. When I was able to get to Dugan and Morita, I could tell they were badly injured. I walked up to them and leaned down.

"Can you make it out of here?" I ask. They both got up, though it was a struggle. I could tell they were out for the count. "You need to get to the forest; I'm going to help the others. When you get there wait for the others and I." I tell them. They nod and head back up the stairs. I morph back and stalk up the stairs towards the next level with Bucky and Falsworth on it. I can't hear any struggle, but can't tell if that's a good or a bad sign. When I opened the door to the floor, I couldn't see either of them. I walked forward cautiously and ducked behind a few discarded shipping boxes. I looked around and found two juggernaut soldiers and two soldiers with the advanced guns making their way to the conjoining rooms. As silently as I could, I got out two throwing knives. With two whizzes through the air, both knives landed in the necks of the necks of both normal soldiers. They both fell down dead, but the other two noticed me and released fire. I hoped at least one of the guys heard the shots, because there was no way I could fight off two at once. I quickly morphed and ran at one of them, effectively pouncing on them and rendering him immobile. I felt another shot of the juggernaut hit my leg full on and I yelped, stumbling to the ground. Luckily, I heard several gunshots come from the other room, and I saw the juggernaut fall, although he got off a few shots. Falsworth was hit in the leg, and couldn't walk. I got back up on my legs, and tried to shake away the pain. I needed to get everyone out of here, and they couldn't do it without me. I heard the alarm start to blare throughout the building, and knew that there would be more soldiers here soon. We were running out of time.

"Dum-Dum and Morita are already out in the forest. You need to meet them there; I'll go get the others." I told Bucky. Bucky quickly shook his head.

"No. You're not going without me, you need help."

"Bucky, the only reason I'm still in here is because I'm the fastest one here. That, and I bet you didn't even notice the four HYDRA soldiers behind you, did you? Morita and Dugan are severely injured, and on top of that, Falsworth can't walk. Get him out of here, I only have a few more people to go. I can handle this, I've been okay so far." Bucky solemnly nodded, and helped Falsworth to his feet and walked him out. I went back to the stairwell, but there was soldiers on their way down. I cursed under my breath and took a few steps back from the door. I faced the door and waited for it to open. I morphed and as soon I saw the handle move, I readied myself. Five soldiers came in, but they didn't even have a chance, even with my shoulder and leg as is. It took less than a minute to take them all out, and I headed up the stairs. I broke the door down and searched for Steve, but found him sunk to floor, a pile of dead HYDRA soldiers around him. I rushed up to him to see if he was awake, and he was, but I could tell he was slipping. I laid down beside him.

"Get on." I said. He nodded wearily and slowly made his way on. I only hoped that I could get out quick and that Jaques and Jones could hang on for just a little longer on the floor above me. I ran out of the building to the woods, and only saw Falsworth, Dum-Dum and Morita. I set Steve down and told him to call for a pick up, and ran over to Dum-Dum.

"Where's Bucky?" I asked panicked.

"He went back in for you." He said worriedly. My eyes widened and I sprinted up to the top floor where Jaques and Jones were supposed to be. I opened the door and saw both of them and Bucky outnumbered by soldiers and juggernauts, but firing upon them, nonetheless. There was so many, and they were barely hanging on. I took down two juggernauts before I heard a pained cry. My heart skipped a beat and I tried to work faster. I finally took down all five juggernauts, and Jaques and Jones were able to take out the soldiers. I looked over at Bucky and I saw a patch of crimson on his abdomen. I morphed as fast as I could and inspected the wound. The bullet went through, but it surely nicked a few organs on the way out. I could feel hot tears stinging my eyes.

"Why can't anyone just listen to me?" I ask jokingly, tears starting to run down my face.

"I think we learned our lesson." I tried to laugh, but it came out more as a sad puff of breath. I picked him up bridal style and headed down the stairs. I could tell Bucky's eyes were starting to close and my heart raced even faster.

"Don't close your eyes Bucky. Don't do it." I tried saying sternly, although it didn't quite sound right. I bolted out the doors and ran to the others, Jones and Jaques in tow. I went up to Steve.

"How long until they get here?"

"Maybe five minutes." He replies somberly.

"We don't have that much time. More HYDRA forces will be here within the minute, and we can't run." I say panicking. I can start to hear engines rumble and I can hear soldiers shouting; they aren't our men.

"No, they're here now." I set Bucky down and take off my translator belt to make it a tourniquet. I have an idea, but it the outcome won't be good for everybody. I can tell Bucky is barely hanging on, and I get close to him.

"I need you to hang on, no matter what. Don't let go." I whisper to him. I kiss him harshly, and stand back up, a tear rolling down my cheek. I give a quick glance to Steve, where he is on the radio, trying to get in touch with our forces. I can hear the soldiers getting closer, and I pray to whoever's listening that this plan works. I set off running towards the army and morphed when I got close. I ran up towards, hoping I'd find the man I hated most. He'd make the worst decision if I found him; he'd want his experiment back, or he'd probably want to kill me for getting out of that horrid place. He'd go after me, not the Commandos. When I reached them, I saw exactly what I wanted to see, and he was in the front seat too. I ran up from the side and pounced on the first soldier I could. I had to act quickly, or else I'd die from being shot upon. As soon as the soldier was down and I was acknowledged, I took off the other way. I heard Zola shout "Get her!" and I smirked. It had worked. Then my stomach dropped when I thought about the fact that getting out of this situation was slim to none. I thought about Steve and Peggy, all the Commandos, and I thought about Bucky. I wanted more time with him; I wanted to spend all my time with him. But the world can just be a bitch sometimes, and out time was cut. The bullet in my leg was starting to take its toll, and I was slowing down, but the soldiers weren't. I could start to hear their footsteps, and I could see their masks in-between the trees. I tried to run faster, but they closed in on me too quickly. They could see me now, and I could hear them shout out orders. I was thinking a million thoughts a minute, and every single one was about Bucky. If he would live, if he'd move on, what we'd do together if we still had time together. I was thrown out of my fantasies with the sound of bullets raining upon me. I was scared absolutely shitless as they got closer and closer. I yelped in pain as one hit my ankle on my back leg. I tripped over myself and fell to the ground with a thud. The bullets came faster as they got closer, and I howled as one hit my stomach. Everything was happening too quickly, I couldn't think, and my vision was becoming black. I felt a bullet hit me left shoulder, and my heart started to slow. Everything I was hearing sounded muffled like I was underwater and my breathing became labored. I laid my head down and thought of Bucky one last time before I saw nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, this is the first time I've written through Bucky's point of view, so if you have any suggestions on what I should do or how I should do it, that'd be great. I wasn't originally planning on having Bucky's P.O.V, but I wanted to focus specifically on his thoughts for this chapter. If you think I should do more of his P.O.V, let me know. Thanks;)**

**This is a short chapter, but a very necessary one. I tried a few new things in here with the P. like previously said, so if you think you have any suggestions, please leave them. It'd help me and you. **

**Disclaimer: I now own a box of Booberry cereal. It's all for me. I'll let you know when I own Marvel.**

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><p>Bucky's P.O.V<p>

I couldn't focus. My thoughts came at me like bullets, raining upon me at an impossible speed. The pain I had was terrible, but not nearly as bad as whatever they gave me and Claire at the camp, though the blood loss could kill me. Claire was carrying me out of the base camp to the other group, and I could feel my eyelids start to fall.

"Don't close your eyes Bucky. Don't do it." She said in a demanding manner. I had to hang on, just a little longer, but I was so tired. When we got outside, the chilly fall air didn't help to keep me awake much. She walked up to Steve something, but I couldn't hear him, everything was muffled. My vision was starting to be obstructed by black splotches, and I was fading from reality. 'No, hang on for Claire, you have to.' Claire. I wanted to hang on for her. I loved her so much, but I still hadn't told her yet. 'That's why you have to hang on; you have to tell Claire I love her.' I thought as she sat me down against a tree. I could tell she was worried. I looked into her eyes, but mine were closing quickly.

"I need you to hang on, no matter what. Don't let go." She says sadly. Why was she saying this? I could only imagine she had an idea, but I wouldn't like it. I couldn't move my mouth, I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't move, and I felt helpless. She was running away, and I couldn't move. 'TELL CLAIRE NOT TO GO, DUMBASS.' I did everything in my might, mustering up all the energy I had, but she was already gone by the time I got anything out. I breathed out a sad, pathetic "Claire", heard the rumble of engines, and passed out.

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><p>Everything aches, I don't know where I am, but I <em>think<em> I'm still alive. I try to think back to what just happened; the mission, the ambush, getting shot, Claire getting me out- Claire! I sat straight up and my eyes opened as far as they could. I was in the med ward back at base camp. I looked around and saw a nurse look at me. She whispered something to another nurse, who then left, and the first came to me.

"How are you feeling, Sergeant Barnes?" She asks walking up to me.

"Sore, but other than that, I'm peachy. What happened?"

"Our troops found you passed out with a bullet wound in your abdomen. When we got you back here, we checked out the bullet wound and gave you several blood transfusions. The bullet that hit you had scraped your small intestine and punctured your lung. You've been out for the past three weeks. It's a miracle that you're alive." I opened my mouth to ask her a question when Steve came into the room. He smiled at me for a second, but frowned. He walked up to the nurse, whispered something, and she left. He knelt beside me with a sad look.

"What is it Steve? Where's Claire?" I asked worriedly. Steve frowns and looks down for a moment, then back up at me.

"She's gone." My heart skips a beat and my stomach clenches.

"What… what do you mean 'she's gone'?"

"When she came out of the camp, she could hear HYDRA coming for us, and we were out of time. When I wasn't looking, she ran off to give us a chance. When we looked for her, we just- we found a pool of blood too big to come from a human. It was hers." Steve says shakily. A feeling of deep dread hit me like a ton of bricks. No. No, she couldn't be gone.

"No. She can't be gone. She- She can't be, t-tell me she isn't gone, Steve." I say, my voice breaking. Steve's head drops and a tear falls from his face. He shakes his head. I scoff in disbelief and pure morbidity. I can feel the tears slide down my face, and I couldn't stop them if I tried. She saved all our lives, and sacrificed hers. Despite my complete grief, I was livid. I was angry at HYDRA for taking away the person I loved, angry at fate for not giving us more time, and angry at myself for not doing all that I could with my time with her. I would go after HYDRA, but for now I just sat and felt the tears come in endless waves down my face.

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><p>Third Person P.O.V<p>

HYDRA Alps Headquarters, One month after the ambush

"Dr. Zola! Dr. Zola!" Yelled a scientist, running up the short man. "Her cells, they're not decaying, they're reproducing. The bullet that hit her heart killed her, but her body is healing and is essentially _alive_." He said in disbelief.

"How much longer until her body is healed?" Zola asked back.

"At this rate, Sir, maybe a day. We didn't notice it until we took tissue samples."

"Notify me when she's fully healed." Zola said, sending the scientist off. He walked to the main room to consult with Schmidt.

"When will the machine be ready, Sir?" Zola asked.

"It's ready now, Dr. Zola. I'm assuming you found a participant to use it first."

"I have an idea." He said, walking back out.

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><p>"Has she been fully prepped?" Zola asked, entering the room.<p>

"Yes, Dr. Zola. The machine seems to be fully functional, as well. Proceed with the plan?" The scientist asked.

"Of course, we are leaping forward in history, we don't want to delay." Zola says with enthusiasm. Soldiers came in the room carrying a dead Claire in their arms and set her down in the barbershop-esque chair. They strapped her down, for the involuntary spasms, and set the helmet on her head. Zola then gave the scientist the signal, and he started the machine with a flick of the switch. Immediately Claire's body fought against the restrains. After a few seconds, though, the shock actually restarted her heart, and her eyes flung open and she released a blood-curdling scream. The scientist went to shut off the machine, but he heard Zola shout over the her screams.

"No, wait! Let the process finish, she can handle it!" He yelled. The scientist complied and after about a minute, the screams stopped. They shut off the machine and unstrapped Claire. They checked for a pulse, but there was none.

"Reduce the power 20% for the next use." Zola said to the scientist. He ordered the soldiers to get the defibrillator and start her heart. When they came back, they let the defibrillator charge, and shock Claire back to life. When she opened her eyes, she had a look of confusion on her face.

"What is your name?" Zola asked her. She opened her mouth like she had an obvious answer, but faltered, and eventually closed it.

"Your name is 12. You work for HYDRA, and you will be the new face of this agency for a long time. Take her to her quarters." He demanded, and they hauled her off. When everyone was gone, Shmidt came in the room.

"Your experiment proved very successful. She will be the best weapon we have. Congratulations, Doctor." He said, exiting again.

"She will bring Captain America to his knees."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, I felt like the last chapter didn't stand up to my others very well, so I wrote this one right after. Oh, anyone know why I called her 12? It's a really bad play on words if you know your German numbers… I'm so sorry for the people that do:) **

**Also, in this chapter, Claire/12 knows she's a mutant and knows all the languages and fighting techniques and whatnot, just nothing personal to her. Everything she can think of is hazy and can get nothing from them. Other than that, I give you chapter 10. Also, this is important, I don't think I made it like really clear, so…**

**When Claire was given the enhancement serum, her body gained the ability to heal itself even if she is technically dead. So, this means that her heart can restart when her body has healed to a point of living. That's why when she was given the two doses of the serum, Steve was able to start her heart and why her heart started in the last chapter *hint-hint; will probably become a plot point hint-hint***

**Disclaimer: I live in Indiana; known for crop fields and basketball. If I owned Marvel, or even a part of Marvel, I'd be somewhere warm and known for fishing lakes.**

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><p>12's P.O.V<p>

The guards drug me to my 'room', which was a clear cell, with chain arm and leg restraints hanging from the wall. No bed, no bathroom, just plain white walls with blinding white lights. They locked the restraints around my wrists and ankles so I only had minimal movement and about 6 inches of space off the wall if I tried to get free of them. They stepped back and started asking me questions.

"Who are you?"

"I am 12." I answer in obedience.

"Who were your parents?" Nothing.

"How did you get here?" Stillness.

"Excellent. You will start training tomorrow. This will be where you will reside after training and missions. For now, you sleep." Both guards stepped out leaving me hung to the wall and all the lights on. My mind is blank. I have no pieces to put together; I just woke up in a chair. 'Did I have a family before this? Where did I come from?' I thought, but nothing came to me, not even a sliver of an idea. I looked at my clothes. It was a black suit, bloodied and battered, but not bringing any memories back.

I hung on the wall with my head down for hours before I even felt a faint feeling of exhaustion. Another hour passed, and my knees dropped, but not hitting the floor due to the restraints on my wrists holding me up. I closed my eyes and had a dreamless sleep that seemed to last two seconds before a new set of guards came in and released my restraints. They stood me up and dragged me to a concrete room. There was nothing there but a dummy in the corner and a hanging light in the center of the room. I stood silently as I waited for anything. After a few minutes, I heard a steel door open in the corner, and a large man came in. He walked up to me silently and stood in front of me.

"I am going to be your trainer. You will call me Sir. Understood?" He asked.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Today we will be working on stealth and senses. Stand in the center of the room." I did as he said, and waited for instruction.

"When I turn off the lights, I want you to tell me where I am." He turned off the light. "Begin." He said. I couldn't see anything, he could move to be right in front of me, and I still wouldn't see him. I tried to focus my senses on anything, I heard the hum of energy flow, footsteps on the floor above me, I could hear my breathing. I tried harder and I heard a very faint scuff of a boot, and I felt the warmth radiating off his body, though he was still far from me.

"Behind me, to my left, 11 feet." I heard his feet go back to the switch and the light turned back on.

"33 seconds. Good, but I expect you to be faster next time. We will do this again, but we are switching places. I don't want to find you unless I feel your hands on my neck, understood?" He asked.

"Yes, Sir." I said, going to the switch. I turned off the lights, and began moving towards him slower than a snail. I crouched down a little, and only used my toes to step on. I didn't move in a straight line towards him, I moved along the walls. When I got to about where I wanted to be, I was about 10 feet away from him. I started walking towards him with my eyes squinted, so that he couldn't even see the whites. I was only a foot from him, and looking right at his face. I stood up to my full height and saw that he had his eyes closed in concentration. I jetted out my hand and wrapped it around his neck so quickly that his eyes shot open and I could see a brief moment of shock before he put on his stony expression. I unclasped my hand and went over to turn the lights on.

"Excellent, 92 seconds. Again." We did this routine for hours. I got to the point where I could find him in 11 seconds and he could use night-vision goggles and still not see me. We then moved onto conditioning. We walked to a small metal room, with vents in the sides.

"We will see how hot or cold you can get before being compromised. The temperature will either raise or decrease 1 degree a minute." He said, opening the door. "When you get in, take off your clothes. When it gets too much to handle, knock twice on the door. We will start with heat." I nodded and went in. He closed the door behind me and locked it. I took off my suit and tossed it aside. After a few minutes, I could feel the temperature start to increase. After an hour, I was sweating. After another hour, I started blistering. I couldn't take much more of this, but I didn't want to quit. I sat down against my suit so my skin didn't bake to the wall. I waited another half hour before I considered knocking and another 15 until I did. I heard the door open and I was dragged out.

"That's the longest someone's lasted in the chamber. Any normal human being would've died at that temperature; you were over 315 degrees." He says in shock. He pulls out a syringe.

"This is a shot that'll heal you in an hour. You will have one with you whenever you go on missions, but only one; it's hard to get." He explains, giving the shot to me. I use an old, ratty robe to clothe myself, considering I can barely move without ripping my skin a little. We use the hour in-between the tests for a bathroom break, my meal, and a break. I can feel my blisters reduce, and my skin heal. As soon as the hour ends though, I'm back to the chamber for conditioning.

The cold I could withstand much better. When the temperature declined, I felt more comfortable, due to my mutation. It took three and a half hours for me to knock and they were almost down to cryo tube temperature. They had to give me another shot because frostbite had covered almost my whole body. It was around time to go to bed when I was done training. They told me I would begin gun training and hand-to-hand combat tomorrow, but they think I'll already be good at it, considering my performances today. I went back to my cell, let the guards chain me up, and tried to sleep- they even turned out one of the lights for me.

When I slept my mind drifted. My dreams seemed more like a blurry picture. I could see trees coming at me quickly, and I could hear wolves howling, crickets chirping, but everything was muffled. My mind changed scenery, and I was at a restaurant, like a diner of sorts. There was a speck of brown and blonde, but I couldn't make out faces. When I looked again, I was back in the forest, but I heard gunshots. I felt a sharp pain in my foot and abdomen, but I woke up in a cold sweat. Needless to say I didn't sleep after that, my thoughts were racing. I got down to -37 beers on the wall before the guards came and unshackled me for training. The days blurred together like this; training, break, training, bed. They soon found out I excelled at everything they put me against, and just simply let me train. I was their best weapon is every category; linguistics, stealth, intelligence, strength, speed, ect. After two months, they sent me on my first mission. I was to collect information on Steve Rogers. They gave me a new suit, one that let my body expand with it on and let my fur through it, but it had two new holsters for HYDRA issued guns and two knives that looked like fangs. They curved inward so they could latch onto my target. They decided not to hide my claws and ears, but enhance them. They gave me strong metal fittings to put on my nails so they'd never break and were even sharper. As for my ears, they gave me eardrops that made me able to hear a pen drop in room with carpet floors and filled with talking people. I also had a mask that covered my mouth and I was given contacts that let me see in the dark, but made my irises seem silver. I was sent to the camp that the Captain was stationed at, and hid in the forest there. Everything seemed so familiar, but I decided to ignore it; it'd just end up frustrating me in the end. I waited until nighttime to get close to them.

I snuck into his cabin that he shared with his friend, Bucky. When I crept in, I knew even the famed super soldier wouldn't hear me. I stalked over to his bedside, stopping maybe a foot away. I was crouched down and looked around the room for anything personal. I found a compass with a picture of a woman, maybe 25, with short, dark hair. I looked further and found a picture of a small, weak, who I assumed was Steve, Bucky and another girl who looked like me, like she was me. I think that she was me. My breath quickened along with my heart and the photo shook in my hand. I flipped the picture over and read the print.

_Steve, Claire and Buck- Yankees game, 1940_

I set the photo down as a headache formed in my head. I could hear voices calling that name, Claire, in the back of my head. I rushed out of the cabin and back into the woods. I ran until the pain became unbearable and I fell to me knees. I gripped my head, trying to relive some of the pain and also making sure my head wasn't falling apart into pieces. I screamed and fell to my side, wishing for the pain to end with no luck. I felt that was for what felt like an eternity, and it finally got to a point where I could barely walk back to the meeting point. When I got back to headquarters I went to see Zola.

"Who am I?" I asked, walking in his office.

"You are 12." He answered back, like it was obvious.

"No, you're lying. Who am I? Who is Claire?" I asked angrily. I didn't see his hand press a small button on his desk, but I heard soldiers come in like a swarm. There must have been 10 of them surrounding me. I went through about five of them, before one got a needle in my neck, and my eyes started to droop. I heard Zola say something that sounded like 'prep', and I fainted.

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><p>When I woke up, I was in the chair I started in. My arms and legs were strapped down, and no matter how hard as I pushed against them, wouldn't budge. I looked around and saw Zola whispering to a scientist, but I could hear him.<p>

"After you finish the process, shoot her heart. She can withstand temperatures in the cryo tube." He said, and walked out of the room. My heart beat so fast in my chest that I'd thought I'd pass out. I felt a helmet be put on my head, and I felt an excruciating pain. I thought my brain was cooking inside my skull, and I screamed louder than ever. My mind started to go blank and soon I couldn't even think of what happened a minute ago. I felt a helmet come off my head and I took in my surroundings. I was in a room, there were two guards at the entrance, and a scientist of some sort coming towards me.

"Who am I? Where am I?" I asked confused. He said nothing, and gave a look towards one of the guards. The guard came at me, gun pointed. I pulled against the restraint, fearing what would happen, but there was no escape. I closed my eyes and felt tears sting them as I hopelessly tried to escape, and I heard a bang. I stopped, shocked, and looked down at a rapidly growing red stain spreading over my shirt. I felt my heart grow faint, and my eyes shut as I drifted thoughtlessly to death.


	11. Chapter 11

**Just to explain now, I won't be writing back-story for the Winter Soldier until he comes back into the story. I wanted to focus on 12/Claire for now and then I'll explain the others when it gets there. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter:)**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Marvel, okay? You no sue now…..**

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><p>Third Person P.O.V<p>

Ever since Claire was pronounced dead, Bucky has barely spoken. It's been three months, and he's hardly even smiled. Whenever the Commandos go on missions he doesn't give any mercy, he always has the highest casualties. When he was blasted off the train on his last mission, he didn't quite reach as far as he could. With one last look towards Steve, he asked for forgiveness from Claire, and dropped.

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><p>While 12 was 'out of commission', she was used for experiments. Since her body always healed itself, she was a perfect candidate for anything they gave her. When Zola was taken, Shmidt was killed and Captain America sacrificed himself, HYDRA's plans for her changed. She was moved to a secret underground base where the experiments resumed for years and she was to be an assassin for them. She was finally awoken for her first mission in 1951. Her first target was target was Ilia Praskoviya, a Russian informant for their enemy, SHIELD. She was to observe him for two days before taking him out. She completed her mission without any mistakes, and proved she was one of the best assassins they had. After her performance, she was given mission after mission, and would do anything they asked of her without question. She started taking out political figures; governors, senators, presidents. She'd also take out several targets; she blew up a meeting room, a college, schools, and a hospital. She was never given a partner; she could handle everything on her own. After every mission, though, she'd have to be wiped. Her memories came back quickly, and although she'd always complete her mission, she'd question her actions afterwards. This went on for years, and it became apparent that she wasn't aging. They assumed it was from the concoction of chemicals they gave her over the years, and they didn't have to kill her to have her stop aging. They kept her alive for a few years to try and keep her informed of the technology, but she had to be wiped so often that they decided against that, and went back to their original plan.<p>

In 1989, they decided to have her go on a two week long mission. HYDRA knew this would be risky, but the normal amount of time for her to start questioning them was around three or four weeks. They needed her to do this considering SHIELD had just gotten a new director, Fury, and they needed someone to gather information on him, but not just anyone could sneak into their headquarters. They briefed her on her mission, sent her out, and she never came back.

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><p>12's P.O.V<p>

When I was dropped off at SHIELD headquarters, I immediately got to work. I set up my camp in an apartment across the street. I mapped out and memorized the vents in the headquarters and got everything else ready. My plan was to wait for the shift change, and use the fake I.D I was given to get in. My alias was Cassie Ross, 24, and I was interning for one of their secretary positions. I walked into the building and went to the main office.

"Hi, I'm here for the secretary internship. My name is Cassie Ross." I say enthusiastically.

"Right this way please." She says with a smile. She leads me back to an elevator, and we shoot up to the 33rd floor. She showed me to my office, and said my job for the day was to sort emails and letters, and when I got the hang of that she'd show me how to take calls. I nodded and went to work. Well, my work, I should say. Once she left, I locked the door at my office and opened the vent. The directors' office was ten floors above mine, but I could manage my way up. When I got to his room, I looked through the vent to make sure no one was there, and crawled out. I planted a bug in his phone and set a recording device underneath his desk. I could hear people walking towards the office, so I ran back to the vent and went back down to my office. Once there, I did my alias's work, and headed back to the apartment to analyze the information I got. This went on for over a week and I found nothing important. When I reported this back to my headquarters, they switched plans and had me get information on their top agent, Phil Coulson.

When I went to work the next day, I restarted my routine I had done on Director Fury, but with the added bonus of a camera. I snuck through the vents to his office and looked around for places to hide the camera, but his office was filled with Captain America memorabilia. There were posters covering his walls of the Cap and the Commandos, but one stood out. It was a single character poster, right in-between a Bucky poster and a Dugan poster, and there was a girl in it. One who looked just like me. I stared at the poster for a long time and couldn't seem to look away. HYDRA never told me of how I got to them, where I came from, who I was before any of it. They just told me I was 12. And I listened. But as I stared at the poster, I couldn't help but wonder who it was. I took it off the wall and flipped it around.

_Claire Sarah Andrews 1921-1942_

When I read her name, something told me I knew it. Like I had my whole life, but I couldn't think of anything other than the familiarity of it. I looked at the rest of the posters, and read three framed news-clippings on the opposite wall. They were all obituaries; one for 'Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes', 'Clairice Sarah Andrews', and 'Steven Grant Rogers' aka Captain America. All the names sounded familiar, and when I got done reading the obituaries I had a slight headache. I decided not to plant the bugs and went through the vents back to my office, but my headache was getting stronger. When I got back, the headache was making my vision blurry, and I couldn't think straight. I could hear voices talking, ones I had never heard before, but something kept telling me I knew them. I fell to my knees, opened my mouth to a soundless scream, and clutched my head. I started to remember, remember all the times this had happened, the countless time I was put in that _damned chair_, all the times I was _killed_, the countless men, women, children I've murdered without question, all the way back to when I first woke up, but then nothing. Everything before that was hazy, like my memories were made of smoke and a tornado was going through them. I waited for the pain to end for an hour, and when I was finally able to walk, I took the rest of the day off. Or that's what I said I'd do. When I got to the elevator, I waited for the doors to close, turned on the emergency brakes, and changed clothes. I was wearing my suit underneath, so when I was done, I opened the vent in the top, and threw my clothes onto the elevator's roof. When I was out of the elevator completely, I crawled through the vent in the wall, and maneuvered my way back to Coulson's room. When I got there, I sat in the darkness for him to come through the door. I waited for about two hours when I heard the door finally open. Luckily he wasn't paying too much attention, and didn't even turn on the lights before closing the door. When he did turn them on, he didn't even have enough time to say anything before he was backed into a wall with one hand was over his mouth and a curved blade over his neck.

"I'm not here to hurt you or kill you, I just need answers. Blink twice if you understand." I said calmly, trying to scare him more than he already was. He blinked with wide eyes and I continued.

"I've already taken off all my weapons, and will give my knife to you when I'm done, so I trust you not to shoot me or alert other agents, okay?" I asked. Two more blinks. I slowly lowered both my knife and my hand, and gave my knife to him. I sat down in one of his chairs, and he sat down at his desk, though very shaken.

"Who is she?" I asked, motioning to the poster of 'Claire'.

"Her-Her name was Clairice Sarah Andrews. She was a member of the Howling Commandos and a best friend to Steve Rogers." He replied, calming down a little.

"Tell me everything you know about her."

"She was born in Brooklyn to Jenna and Henry Andrews. Her mother was killed in a car accident when she was fifteen, and was abused by her alcoholic father. She worked in a diner for five years, even though she graduated third in her class. Her best friends were James 'Bucky' Buchanan Barnes and Steve Rogers. She was kidnapped when she was twenty by a group named HYDRA and held captive for three months before Captain America rescued her. She became a member of the Howling Commandos and fought alongside them for about a year before she sacrificed herself to save the rest of them. Her body was never found. It was also rumored that she could shape-shift into a wolf but was never proven." He finished, looking at me for some reply.

My mind faltered at the last two bits of information. The pieces fit together; her body was never found, she could 'possibly' shape-shift into the same thing I could, and she looked _just like me_. I was starting to lose my calm and my heart was beating faster. Even though I was starting to freak out, I knew two things; I couldn't, or _wasn't_, going back to HYDRA, and I needed help.

"I- I need help." I say, stumbling somewhat.

"Why?" He asked compassionately.

"She is me, or I am her, or at least I used to be." I answer quietly. He sits and looks at me at a loss for words for a minute before he nods leaves the office. At this point, I didn't care if he was going to get agents to arrest me, just as long as HYDRA didn't have me. He came back after a few minutes with a file folder with 'Clairice Sarah Andrews' written on the front. He set it down on his desk and I grabbed it.

"I don't doubt that you're her, you look just like her and she was never found, so what happened?" He asked curiously. I stopped and remembered my situation a bit clearer. I was a HYDRA assassin who killed countless numbers of people including SHIELD agents.

"I'm sorry, but I worked without question for HYDRA for the last 47 years." I said sadly. I look up at him, and he doesn't have the look of anger I was expecting, but a look of sorrow. He nods his head, wanting me to continue, so I did.

"My earliest memory I have is just waking up in a chair. A man, Zola, said I'd be the new face of HYDRA and that my name was 12. I, I was sent on missions constantly, and as soon as I started to remember, they'd wipe me. I can heal and my body never decays when I'm dead, so when I wasn't needed, I was killed. They'd just restart my heart and continue the process, and it went on like this until, well, now. I was sent here to gather intelligence on your director, but when I came to your office, I saw the posters and her, _my _obituary. I don't want to go back, not now that I remember." I explained.

"I think I can help you. I'm going to talk to the Director, but I want to run a DNA test to prove that it's you. Until then, you'll probably have to stay in a cell. I nodded, picked up the file folder, and walked with him to the lab. I opened the folder, hoping for answers and praying that I could get the help I needed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Moving right along with this plot line cause I can:) As usual, if you have and suggestions, comments or actual reviews, leave them in the review section. I ****_will_**** answer any questions you have in my author's notes….**

**Disclaimer: I've ran out of creative ideas…. Don't sue please, I can't afford it….**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

After the DNA results came back positive, I had a meeting with the Director. This unnerved me to an extreme extent, but it went over much better than expected. He told me that since I had no idea who I was or what I was really doing, he'd let me go. He also told me that if I was ever interested in a job, that'd he accept me as an agent whenever I chose. Of course, with nowhere to go and HYDRA without a doubt on my ass, I chose to stay and become an agent. I also told him everything I knew about HYDRA and their whereabouts over the past 47 years. I stayed with Phil until I could get an apartment and I searched for memories.

They didn't come easy, often in nightmares. My first was when I was taken by HYDRA a second time. I was running through a forest, and I heard gunshots everywhere. I couldn't escape, I couldn't run away, and I felt pain _everywhere_. I woke in a cold sweat and couldn't sleep for the rest of the night, but Phil was very understanding when he woke up to me watching tv or trying to catch up on what I missed at 2 in the morning. I started to remember though, slowly, and painfully, but I did. It was just blobs at first; brown and blonde blobs with muffled voices. Whenever I had a memory, it was so painful. All those years of wiping did a number on my head, but didn't wipe everything away completely.

After about two years of being an agent and living without HYDRA, I could finally see some memories clearly, although I didn't feel like _her_; I never would, though. Not after all I've done. I couldn't remember all the little things, like stupid conversations, or what I got on tests in school, and I doubted that I ever would. I did start to get memories of the good things; the day Steve and I met, when we hung-out together, when I was rescued. I even remembered my first date, and my first kiss, but it eventually just made me depressed. The only bad thing, really, about gaining back my memories, was missing everyone so much. I knew Peggy was still alive, but I never went to visit her. She moved to New York a while ago, but I couldn't bear to tell her what happened to me, I didn't want her to think of that. I also found out how Steve and Bucky died, and that they were still looking for the Valkyrie. The fact that they never found Bucky's body scared me to some extent. I knew he fell into a ravine from almost 3,ooo feet, but I had a feeling that something might've happened to him, but I didn't want to think about it.

I listened to classic rock almost religiously. I _tried_ to sing it too, to the annoyance of many, but I didn't care; if the radio played _Good Times Bad Times, _than it was a sign from God. And I wasn't _that_ bad. Phil and I had a sibling bond, but without all the fighting. We went on missions together all the time. Actually, he's the only person I'd go on missions with. We were the best agents, and were well known around SHIELD. When it got to be 2001, though, I got a new partner; Clint Barton. He was just a rookie and a kid, so I showed him the ropes. We became good friends over all the missions we did, and a few years later when he came back from a solo mission _with_ his target, me and Phil were the select few who stood by his decision. I helped Natasha switch, since I went through something similar, and we were on a team with Phil and Clint for a while. I traveled a lot; watching alien hammers in New Mexico and saving Iron Man's ass from palladium poisoning, but when I was in Ukraine and got a text saying 'We found him' from Fury, I was on a plane back faster than you can say 'panic attack'.

"Where is he?" I asked quickly, laying down my luggage- that's right, I didn't even go home to unpack and I was still in my suit.

"He's in room 8, we're waiting for him to wake up." Fury answered.

"I'm going to wait there, then." I said, rushing off. My heart was beating profusely, and I was in a state of anxiety. I was about halfway there when I heard a siren go off and I heard "All agents, code 13" and I knew that he escaped. I quickly morphed and ran to him as fast as I could, following his scent. I couldn't care less about how many civilians saw a giant black wolf running through the streets of New York; there had already been a battle of the hulks. When I finally caught up to him, I morphed back and called his name.

"Steve!" I shouted. He looked around, trying to find me.

"Claire?" He asked, finally seeing me. "I swear, if they're pulling the same stunt they did back there, I won't stop till they all have broken noses." He said, looking at me cautiously.

"No, Steve, I'll explain later, but I lived. I lived." I said, walking up to him, and also trying not to cry- which wasn't working too well. He pulled me in a bone crushing hug which I returned quickly.

"It's been so long Steve. You've been gone so long." My voice was muffled by his shirt and was breaking just a bit.

"How long have I been out, Claire?" He asks worriedly.

"Steve….. You've been asleep for almost 70 years." I say slowly. At this he just hugs me tighter and lets out a shaky breath.

"I just, I had a date."

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><p>We took Steve back to the base and tried to sort some things out. They gave him a credit card, which I had to keep teaching him how to use, and I decided he could stay with me until he's ready to move out. My apartment was great since SHIELD is helping pay <em>and<em> since they picked it. Of course there were several Beatles, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin posters accompanied by various classic movie posters scattered along my walls, but in a way that made it look good. When we got to the apartment, I had been describing the fifties to him on the way there, he asked me about how I was still here, although very cautiously. I stopped what I was doing to face him. I sat on the couch and he sat in the chair across from me.

"Steve, it isn't the happiest story to hear, but I'll tell you if you still want me to. I just want you to know that before I continue." He nodded his head, wanting me to continue.

"When HYDRA captured me the first time, they gave me a serum. It was obvious that it gave me enhancements, but one of the unseen effects was that when I die, my body still heals itself and doesn't decay. That's why when you found me dead, you restarted my heart. When we were ambushed, HYDRA killed me and about a month later, when they took tissue samples, they found this out too. They first started giving me serums when I was dead to try them out, since my body just healed, and somehow the concoction caused me to stop aging. They also took the opportunity to make me into a weapon and they erased my memories by shock, also restarting my heart. They told me my name was 12, and I listened. They told me to kill, and I listened. I listened for 47 years. They'd just put me on a mission, wipe me, kill me, wake me up, and repeat. I did so many bad things. I murdered countless people; men, women, _children_ and without question. For 47 _years._" I said curling my arms around my knees. "I'm s-so sorry, Steve. I'm so sorry." I cried. After a few moments, a felt large arms wrap around me.

"No, Claire, you didn't do those things, HYDRA did. You can't take the blame for that." He said softly. We stayed like that for awhile; it had been so long since I had someone comfort me. Even with Phil, Nat or Clint, something just felt off. After a while I continued.

"I, I was on a mission to get information on Fury in 89', but about a week through, I found Agent Coulson's room. He had posters of us, the Commandos, and I saw that one of them looked just like me. I found her name, 'Claire', and it sounded so familiar to me. It caused me excruciating pain just trying to think of it, so I came back and waited in his office for him. When he came, I asked him about everything he knew about her. When he said that she was never found and that is was 'rumored' she could morph, I knew she was me, but I couldn't remember. He took a DNA sample with my hair, and when it came back positive, the Director let me off the hook, and also offered me a job, and since I had nowhere to go, I happily took it. I've been working here and regaining my memories since." I finished, trying to calm down from telling him the first part of the story. I sat for a little while, neither of us saying anything, but after a few minutes I heard Steve ask why there was a picture of the Hindenburg Disaster on my wall.

"Oh, you mean Led Zeppelin? They were a rock band in the 70's- WAIT. You are the last man not to know what happens in Star Wars." I say in sudden realization. "Oh, god, I know what we're doing tonight." I say with a dubious smile.

'Maybe my life can finally turn around.'


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey, since this is an OC story, there will be some minor differences, but hopefully nothing too extreme. **

**I'm sorry for the late upload last time, but at my dad's the internet is pretty shitty, so please bear with me;3 My next chapter should be up soon, and I'm writing it now**

**Disclaimer: I have moved my percentage of world domination to 13%. None of that percentage is what I own of Marvel. 'Why?' you may ask. Well, because I ****_don't _****own it. **

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

While we lived together, I tried catching Steve up on the years he missed. Mainly this was during the middle of the night, because we both still had nightmares of the days so long ago. He caught me awake in the middle of the night looking at Bucky's HYDRA files from when he was captured with me- his SSR files were lost. We both missed him so much, and it's hard to go on without him, but we have to. I knew it'd take a while for Steve to catch up, considering it took me a year and I have an extreme learning enhancement. Not only that, but I had a job that required me to go on long missions, and he was trying to get acquainted with SHIELD properly. I started teaching how to use technology first, because they were a necessity, especially the internet. Once I had that done, I started out with the rest of the forties. We had learned, while we were still alive, about the concentration camps, but we didn't know how big it truly was. I talked about Auschwitz and the death toll, I talked about D-Day and Hitler's suicide as well. That alone took a few months, and it was only 7 years. When we got through the forties, I talked about the space race in the fifties and the start of the Korean War, along with the hydrogen bomb. I snuck in Elvis and Buddy Holly somewhere along there, and a few movies. Once I got to the 60's I explained the beginnings of rock and psychedelic rock, mainly The Beatles and The Doors, the Vietnam War, and the great movies of the 60's. When I got to the 70's I went straight to music and movies. I got right about 1974 and my favorite movie, Young Frankenstein, with some cult classics, when we got called in on the Avengers Initiative.

Fury came to us when were in the gym and gave us a rundown of what was happening. I was pissed when he said Barton was compromised, but I was going to get him back. We packed our things; well _I _packed _my_ things, whereas Steve would really just have to pack a few outfits. I packed all my knives- which were still curved, my two guns, my suit, my ear clips and gloves that I got re-made, then my t-shirts, skinny jeans, combat boots and my aviators. We were picked up by Coulson and brought to the hellicarrier in a quinjet. When we got onboard the quinjet, I gave Coulson a hug and whispered him some advice.

"Do _not_ do anything stupid. You'll regret it later." Although I knew that it was going to happen anyways. I was cringing as Coulson went on about his trading card collection of us and watching him in the ice, and sighed in relief as we landed. When we got out I saw Natasha heading towards us.

"Hey, Nat. It's been a long time." I said, walking up and hugging her. "_We will get him back, Natalia. I promise." _I whisper in Russian.

"_I know._" She says sadly. Clint is like our older brother, and we all have a bond together. We walk back towards Steve, where he's met with Bruce Banner. We introduce ourselves and walk over to the side of the deck. We hear a roar of energy and here Steve ask "Is this a submarine?"

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurized box?" Bruce asked sarcastically. Everyone on the ship knew of his 'condition', but I wish he'd just accept it. Maybe if he acknowledged his situation, he'd be able to control it better, but it's not my decision to make. After a second, the giant helicopter-like blade appeared through the surface of the water, stunning both men.

"Oh, no; this is much worse."

We walk inside to the control room to be briefed by Fury. Right as we are getting the point, the face trace finds a match on Loki. He was located in Strasbourg, Germany, and he put me and Steve on the job. When we got there, he jumped into the action, saving a very brave man in the process. While Steve had that, I went after Loki. I morphed and tried to pounce on him, but he got a blast off on my leg. I tried to push through the pain and tackled him to the ground, but he had a good grip on the scepter, and hit me on the side of the head- _hard_. I was thrown aside but Steve came in and fought Loki. My vision was pretty hazy, but I managed to find my way to at least a standing position. I tried to shake off the dizziness, but right as I was about to fight again I heard AC/DC blast through the speakers on the quinjet. 'Alright, now _this_ is fighting music.' I thought, but I heard a blast and saw Loki be tossed onto the ground.

"Make a move, Reindeer Games."

Nope, just Tony. We had met after he had been dicking around when he was dying and we bonded a little; mainly over music, movies and humor, but still. I morph back and limp over to where Steve and Tony are standing.

"Cap'n, Teen Wolf." He said, still holding his repulsors up at Loki.

"Well, long time no see, Buns of Steel." I say smirking.

"My name is Iron Man and my suit is actually an alloy of-"

"And I'm over 90 years old." I shoot back, all of us getting on the quinjet with Loki in tow. We head off in silence but that doesn't last too long. I was tending to the rather large wound on my thigh when I heard Tony pipe up.

"You know, you're pretty spry for a 90 year old. What's your secret? Pilates?" He asked, to which he got a confused look.

"It's like calisthenics-"

"Could you not, Tony. I will scratch 'Cowboys' butts drives me nuts' on all your suits; don't take that as a challenge." I said bluntly. That shut him up real good. What can I say? When I have a injury that hurts like a _bitch_, I'm probably not in the mood for other people bitching. I had just got my leg wrapped when we heard thunder in the distance. Loki gave a very concerned look.

"What? Scared of a little lightening?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." What, thunder? 'Oh, shit.'

"Oh, shit. We're gonna have a visitor." I barely got out before we heard a thud. The drop door lowered and went to attack whatever was coming in but he was thrown back just as quick. In a flash of red, Loki was taken and, with a snide comment, Tony was after them. I didn't even hesitate to grab a parachute, and I barely had it on before I was freefalling. I had landed as Tony received a bolt of lightning to his suit. It just seemed to fuel the suit, though, because he returned a heavy strike, throwing Thor into a tree.

"HEY, DUMBASSES IN THE RED! COULD YOU PLEASE END YOUR PISSING CONTEST!" They gave me a shocked look, but at least they stopped.

"You're out here practically measuring your dicks while Loki's getting a free show. Now, we can settle this like the _adults_ and demi-god we are, or I'll make you wish you were in the heart of Hell itself." They hastily shook their heads. We grabbed Loki and I limped back to the quinjet, where Steve was looking at me with a smirk.

"What's that for?" I ask.

His grin went to his ears. "You were still wearing your comm. And three quarters to the swear jar."

* * *

><p>We got back to the hellicarrier where we were going to try and find the Tesseract and Fury was going to interrogate Loki. I went straight to the med ward, where a few minutes later, watched Fury give his interrogation, or moreover, intimidation. 'I'll have to give props to Fury for that closer, too.' Once I was given pain meds, I walked back to the control room to discuss our plan; which was really just of science talk, a reference understanding, and not understanding a reference. I went to the labs with Bruce and Tony so I can try and catch up and also try and learn some of the science talk.<p>

"So, Buns of Steel, what've you been up to these days?" I ask, walking into the labs.

"Oh you know, the usual." He answers, going to his computer.

"Still inadvertently pissing off Pepper?" I ask, smirking.

"…maybe."

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing! Well, nothing that bad, but I mean-"

"What did you say to her?"

"I may have said she only can take 12% credit for the tower….." He says, trying to shrink away.

"How do you not realize that that's a no-no?" I ask, laughing. We talk for a while, when Tony pricks Bruce with a little shock stick. Steve walks in furious.

"Hey! Are you nuts!?" He says, 'barging' in.

"You really have got a lid on it. What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?" Tony asks, ignoring Steve.

"Ha, not anymore." I say with a smirk.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asks towards Tony. At this point I tune everything out. If they want to bitch at each other over stupid things, they can leave me out of it. When Bruce started talking, I wound my way back in, assuming it was over.

"I should look into that once I file through all of SHIELDS secure photos." Tony says.

"I'm sorry, did you say….?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge-" I tuned out again. Do they have a thing against calm, appropriate discussions? When Steve walked out I listened again.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony asked rhetorically. "I'm starting to think they should've left him on ice."

"It would help if you stopped being an egotistical asshole as soon as you don't like something." I say starting to walk out of the room. He was about to speak when I interrupted him.

"And, no, you're not the only one to blame. He's gonna get his earful too." I say, going to find Steve.

I followed Steve's scent to a room where the door was pulled off its hinges. 'Well, I guess that's one way to do it.' I thought walking inside. There was a bunch of crates lying around, and I heard a few being opened as I snuck around. I slipped behind Steve and watched him go through the crates. After a minute, I spoke up.

"You bitch at Tony for sneaking around, and then you come and do this? That's a little hypocritical." I say bluntly. He jumps and a gasp escapes him at my voice and he turns around. He tries to speak, but I interrupt him like I did to Tony.

"No, I don't care if you were in the right or anything like that, sometimes you just need to either swallow your pride or at least act like an adult." He closed his mouth and looked a little deflated. I walk away, but he calls me back. When I get to him, he's holding up a very familiar looking gun.

"I think we were both a little right."

* * *

><p>We walked back into the lab, where Thor and Fury are there talking, and heard "What is phase 2?" Steve slammed the gun onto the table.<p>

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

"Rogers, we gathered everything we had on the Tesseract, this doesn't mean we're-"

Tony cuts Fury off. "I'm sorry, Nick, what were you lying?" He asks, turning the monitor towards him. There were prototypes of weapons similar to HYDRA's on it. From there, all Hell starts to break lose. When Nat walks in, Banner accuses her of knowing, there's threats being pushed out, insults coming from everyone-mainly Tony- and I was getting fed up.

"HEY!" I shout, trying to get their attention. "COULD YOU ACT LIKE THE ADULTS WE ARE AND DISCUSS SOMETHING WITHOUT ACTING LIKE CHILDREN!?"

That silences them, and I notice that Loki's scepter is glowing vibrantly blue.

"He's trying to get us to do this. He's trying to get us to fight each other instead of him and he's winning." I say, walking over to it. I look up and see something coming towards us. I squint, and a half second later I yell "Get down!" before the world explodes around us.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, in case you were wondering, I still have it as Claire/12's P.O.V. because even though she has her memory back, she still feels like she's not Claire, but she's not 12 either. She's just herself. Also, this chapter was a little late due to 10 hours of fishing on Lake Michigan and terrible wi-fi;3**

**I thought this chapter fell a little short, but I promise you guys will love the next one if you understand where I'm going with the ending:)**

**Disclaimer:*Insert clever disclaimer here***

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

I fell to the bottom deck with a resounding thud, and noticed a large pipe had my legs caught. When the smoke and dust cleared, I saw Natasha and Bruce were down here with me. I was still wearing my suit, so I morphed to get myself free. I walked over to Nat and got the pipe off of her legs with my muzzle, but when I looked at her, she was staring at something else. I looked at what she was and saw that Bruce was a little _green_ at the gills. My eyes widened and I motioned for Nat to hop on, and I ran as fast as I could. I heard a roar and the destruction behind was getting closer and closer. I put a little more power into my strides, but I was still clipped by a giant arm. Nat was thrown off and I heard my leg snap when I hit the wall. The hulk went after Natasha, and I went as fast as I could, but broken legs don't help speed much. I saw Natasha get away, and Thor had the hulk, so I went to the detainment room stop whatever threat in there; whether that be Loki or someone trying to free him.

When I got there, I snuck into the room to see Loki getting out. I ran in and tackled him to the ground by the control panels. We wrestled a bit before he was able to throw me off. I hit my head pretty hard on the wall and tried to see through my dizziness, but when I looked up, Thor was entering the room. I saw Loki walking out of the cage like nothing happened, and knew it was a trick. I quickly morphed back to warn Thor, but he had already been trapped. I ran, well limped with some speed, after Loki, drawing my guns and firing, but the bullets didn't do anything to him. I stopped firing and stayed where I was. I was out of options; my guns didn't work, my knives would probably do nothing considering the last fact, and my leg was useless. I saw him smirk at my hesitation and he raised his scepter, about to fire on me. I readied myself to dodge his attacks, but I heard a familiar voice.

"I wouldn't do that." Phil said, walking in with a very large gun of sorts. Loki's smile faded, but didn't disappear. I saw a flash of green behind Phil, but before I even opened my mouth to warn him there was a knife through him. He slid down to the floor, leaving a smear of red on the wall. I breathed in a gust of air, pulled out my knives, and ran at him. I could feel my leg burn and scream in protest, but I pushed through. I stabbed the knives in both shoulders and dug them in with the curved endings. He screamed in pain, and I left the knives in his shoulders and went straight to fighting. I got a few good hits on him before he got with the program. I'm a little thankful for my HYDRA and SHIELD training over the years, because he fought better than anyone I've ever faced- not that anyone was a challenge to me. I got four deep claw marks across his face, and I saw rage flash in his eyes. He threw me across the room, went to the control panels, and dropped Thor. I went to run at him again, but Phil shot him with the gun he was holding from his spot on the ground. I ran over to Phil, and called for help on my comm. I was getting teary-eyed and saw that he was closing his eyes.

"N-no, don't do that to me Phil. Don't do it." I said. My voice broke, making it lack any commanding sound.

"Claire, look up the Winter Soldier. I'm sorry I never told you." Phil said slowly, gasping in-between a few words. I saw him close his eyes, and I held his hand.

"Phil?" I asked, my vision blurring. He didn't respond.

"P-Phil?" Nothing. I squeezed harder on his hand, my nails digging into his skin, but not breaking it. I was silent and couldn't think straight. I had lost my best-friend, my brother. He was the one that took me in, and without him I would still be with HYDRA. Tears streamed relentlessly down my face and my mouth hung open, but nothing came out. I heard Fury come into the room, and broke my thoughts to where I could focus. My tears ended and my mouth shut instantly and I only felt one thing; rage. I stood up, wiped my face of any expression or emotion, limped past Fury's worried gaze and out of the room. I went back to where they put my weapons and grabbed my translator, more ammo, two more curved knives, and put on my nail clips that I still had from when I was under HYDRA's control. I had one shot of the healing serum that I stole from one of my missions years ago and plunged it into my legs, feeling relief instantly. I went back to the control room once I had everything and looked at who we still had. Nat was probably with Clint, but I knew Thor and the Hulk were both off the Hellicarrier; their situations unknown. I wasn't listening to Fury's speech, moreover thinking of my plan, but when he tossed bloody trading cards with Steve, Bucky and my face on them, he crossed a line. I gave him a glare and I could see the faint regret in his eyes, though he didn't show it. I clinched my hands into fists at my sides, my nails digging into my skin. I stood up and walked out, headed to wherever Nat and Clint were. I thought on the way there, thinking of where Loki would go. He attacked us _here_, where it would make a statement. He act in Germany stood out as well. 'He wanted to have everyone see, to prove his power.' My mind went to one place in particular, and I walked just a bit faster. I opened the door to a small room and saw Clint sitting up on the bed with Nat standing next to him.

"I know where he's at and I'm going after him." I say forwardly. They both nod and follow me as I head out to find Steve and Tony. I practically run into them in the hall as I turn a corner.

"He's at your tower." I say to Tony.

"How did you know? Did you just hear our conversation?" He asks back.

"What conversation?"

"Never mind, I'll just go get ready." He says deflated. I start to walk away, but Steve grabs my shoulder.

"Claire, please don't do something you'll regret." He says softly.

"I did things I regret for fifty years. I won't regret this." He nods his head, and walks away with Nat and Clint. I go with Tony and help him with whatever I can and about ten minutes later we leave to Stark Towers. Nat and Clint are piloting a quinjet carrying Steve and I and Tony is flying to the tower in his suit. About halfway there I flex my leg letting the serum piece back my femur where it snapped. Tony was much faster than us and is probably giving some cocky spiel to Loki about now. When we get there, Natasha gives Tony our location and we head to where Loki's at. We find him and Thor fighting and fire on him. We get off a few rounds before he blows the left engine out and we plummet to the ground. Steve and I grab the ceiling, which doesn't help much, and we crash into a street a moment later.

"Wow, Clint, that crash was better than most of your landings." I say smirking. He grumbles something, but when I step out I didn't pay attention to it. There was a huge hole in the sky, and a swarm of aliens came out of it like flies around a dumpster. I clipped my translator around my neck, which looked like a necklace when I wasn't morphed, and grew into it. We ran towards the tower and saw a huge Leviathan fly out of the portal, shooting off alien soldiers as it went.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked through the comms.

"Seeing, still working on believing. Banner shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve asked confused

"Just keep me posted."

We backed behind a car to get our plan made, and once we did, Steve and I booked it towards an area of trapped civilians. We fought off a few aliens, and Steve had the police make a perimeter. We went back to Nat and Clint and Thor landed next to us. Steve started explaining what we were going to do when we heard a rumble behind us. Banner was on a small motorcycle and wearing baggy clothes, but looked pretty calm even with the invasion- all adding up to the best intro I've ever seen.

"So, this all seems horrible." He said walking towards us.

"I've seen worse." Nat replied back.

"Sorry."

"No, we could use a little worse."

"Stark, we got him." Steve said into the comms.

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"Well, tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." As soon as he got that out, we saw him fly out from behind a building being followed by a Leviathan.

"I don't see how that's a party." I heard Natasha say behind me.

"Dr. Banner, now might be a really good time to get angry." Steve said to Bruce.

"Here's a secret Cap, I'm always angry." Bruce morphed almost as fast as I can and punched the Leviathan, making it halt instantly. We all got ready for the battle, and saw more and more aliens fly out of the portal. Steve rattled off orders and had me go with him. We fought endless aliens as they came out in huge droves, but we were wearing out. We eventually got split up, and I fought off aliens on my own. I was getting worn out, and out of all of us I probably had the most aliens around me. Eventually I heard Natasha say she could close it, but Tony stopped her. He said that there was a nuke headed right towards us, and I knew his plan immediately.

"Stark, you know that's a one-way trip." Steve said through the comm.

"Save the rest for the turn, J." And he flew into the portal. My heart was heavy as Steve asked Nat to close the portal, but I felt like there was still hope. I saw the sky close, and a body came out, falling to the Earth quickly.

"Son of a gun." I heard Steve mutter. I saw that Tony wasn't controlling himself.

"He's not slowing down." Thor said, whirling his hammer to take off. Right before he did, through, we heard a roar slice through the air, and the hulk caught him. He made his way down to us, landing on his back and flopped Tony on his side. I trotted over to him and Thor ripped off his helmet. His arc reactor lacked its normal blue glow, and wasn't showing any sign of response. Hulk and I roared at him at about the same time, and he jumped awake.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me no body kissed me." I smirked and get his face a huge lick. I morphed back and started coughing and trying to spit out the taste behind me.

"Uh, that was gross. Why do dogs do that? You tasted like a mix between metal and bourbon." I said, disgusted. He wiped the slobber off his face and went on about schwarma, but I wasn't very focused. I wanted to go back to the tower and gouge Loki's eyes out, but I knew I could only arrest him, and if Thor got his way, he would be back in Asguardian prison, but that wouldn't bother me. The further away from me he is, the happier I am. We got back up to the main floor of the tower and we stood around Loki, waiting for him to wake up. When he did, he was met with five angry faces and two snarls.

"If it's all the same to you, I think I'll have that drink now."

* * *

><p>We sent Loki back with Thor, where hopefully the Asguardians lacked mercy in his punishment. Steve went back to our apartment, but I stayed for Phil's funeral. It was a beautiful day, but didn't lighten my spirits at all. I was silent the whole ceremony, and stayed at his grave until everyone was gone. Once I was alone I put a curved knife on his grave, the one I gave him the night he saved me. I stood back up, gave one last look, and walked away. When I went back to my car, I was expecting an old Grand Prix, but was welcomed with a midnight blue 69 Mustang with two silver racing stripes. My jaw dropped at the sight of my dream car since I saw one in 90'. I saw a note stuck in the windshield wipers and picked it up.<p>

'Claire,

I heard you wanted one of these pretty badly, so I bought one for you. I told them if anything ever happened to me to give it to you with this note. I'm sorry I didn't have more time with you, but all good things come to an end I guess. I know I will miss you wherever I end up, I always saw you as a sister. Hopefully we will meet again someday, but don't make that day soon or you'll be getting it from me for the rest of eternity.

Love,

Phil'

I had tears stinging my eyes but a small smile on my face. I looked in the car and almost squealed. Black leather seats and a great stereo met my eyes as I got in. I looked in the CD holder and saw almost all my favorites. I looked for one CD in particular and smirked when I found it. I started the car, turned on the stereo, and went to our song that we always listened to when we went on missions. It was a strange pick for my situation, but I knew he'd be laughing from wherever he is. I rolled down the windows, turned up the volume and sang along as the lyrics started.

_Well I'm ever upper-class high society_

_God's gift to ballroom notoriety _

_And I always fill my ballroom, the event is never small_

_The social pages say I've got the biggest balls of all_

I laughed as I headed to the apartment, but sang extra loud as the lyrics began.

_I've got big balls, oh I've got big balls_

_And they're such big balls, and they're dirty big balls_

_And he's got big balls and she's got big balls_

_But we've got the biggest balls of them all!_

* * *

><p>When I got back I called in a few favors from Tony and got all the information SHIELD had on the Winter Soldier. He was practically a myth; the only information they had on him were things like who he worked for and what ammo he used. From what I could tell he was HYDRA like I was, but I read something that made my stomach drop.<p>

'The Winter Soldier has been accredited for a dozen deaths over the last 50 years.'

"No, not him too."


	15. Chapter 15

**This chapter will be like my last few chapters. I have the movie and I know what happens, but I still have to change the storyline around just a bit so everything flows together with my OC. If you have a question on what I changed or something doesn't make since, leave it in the reviews and I promise I'll answer it. Hopefully this one is better for you guys, I think so.** **Just a heads up, the ending isn't great, but that's because this chapter was getting pretty long and if I continued on it'd basically end up about 3,000 words too big.**

**Now that that's out of the way, I give you chapter 15;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. I promise.**

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><p>Third Person P.O.V<p>

Underground HYDRA Base, Washington DC, 2014

Alexander Pierce walked down the hallway to the room they kept the chair in with a small file folder. When he got there, a man was sitting in the chair, waiting for new commands. Pierce walked up to him and handed him the file.

"I want you to take down three targets. Nick Fury- Director of SHIELD- has been coming close to finding HYDRA and has become a threat to us. Steve Rogers-Captain America- has been following the same path Fury has. He's starting to go against orders and starting to find cracks in the system. Claire Andrews- she was also known as 12- has been on our trail for the past year. She doesn't know it, but she's close to finding you. She also defied HYDRA when she left us for SHIELD in 1989 and has worked for them since. Kill them all."

The man in the chair nodded and studied the file folder. Before Pierce left, though, he gave a grenade like object to the man.

"This is for 12. Before you begin you mission, use this on her. It will stop her from using her powers for only an hour, so use it wisely." The man nodded again and Pierce left. When he was gone, the man got up, went to the weapons room, and headed out to begin his task.

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

Avengers Tower, 2014

After Steve was stationed at the Triskelion a year ago, I moved into the Tower with Tony and Bruce. There was a possibility that they used Bucky to be the Winter Soldier, so I've been tracking him- or at least _trying_ to track him. I had Tony teach me everything he knows about hacking cameras and computers and I've input a formula to signal me when something's found his face, but so far I've got nothing. I know that if HYDRA's using him like they did me, that he'd probably be frozen or, if he has the same serum I do, killed in-between missions, and nothing has been important enough to wake him up. I was also working at SHIELD and going on missions practically every week, so I had limited time to look for him. I haven't told Steve what I was doing. If I was right that this was Bucky, I didn't want him to feel guilty. I knew that he felt guilty for letting Bucky fall and for what HYDRA did to me, so I didn't want him to worry over something that I haven't proven to be true, although all signs pointed to it. I was getting ready to go to the gym we had on the upper level of the Tower when JARVIS alerted me.

"There is a call from Director Fury for you, Ms. Andrews." A British voice chided.

"Ok JARVIS put him on, and J, I've been living here for a year, you can call me Claire." I reply back to the AI.

"Of course, Ms. Claire." 'Uh, he's worse that Steve.' I looked at the TV on the wall and waited for the call to connect. After a moment it did and a somewhat frantic Fury came on the screen.

"I need you to report to DC immediately. _Deep shadow conditions._" He said as soon as he showed.

"Is there anything I need to know?" I asked worriedly.

"Trust no one." He barely got out before I heard him scream and the connection was lost. My heart was racing, but I tried not to freak out, considering that it does nothing for my situation. I got my emergency mission bag that was always packed with my suit, weapons and a few change of clothes and I rushed down to the workshop where Tony and Bruce were working. I hurriedly told them that I was going to be on a mission for a few days and went straight to the garage, got in my Mustang, and was out the door. I hoped that whatever was going on wasn't as bad as it seemed, but from the call I got from Fury, I assumed that it was worse than I was expecting. I stepped on the pedal a bit harder as I sped to DC.

* * *

><p>When I got to DC, it was almost 11:00 at night. I drove straight to Steve's apartment, but parked a block down so nobody would see me. I stayed hidden getting there and picked his door lock, hoping he was either asleep or wouldn't hear me or else he'd hit me with his shield trying to protect himself. I snuck in, but nobody was home, and it was eerily silent. I slowly made my way to the living room, and a weird sweet smell hung in the air. I brushed it off, assuming it was a bad choice of air freshener, and checked the place out. I felt a cool breeze and as soon as I got past the wall I could see why; there were huge holes in the wall and the kitchen window was broken. I looked down and there was a large blood stain on the floor. I started panicking. I got out my phone and called Steve while I rushed back out the door. When I opened the door, I was shoved back into the room by strong hands and landed flat on my ass with a thud. My phone flew from my hands and I hadn't even pressed the call button. I looked up to see who threw me back, and I saw all black, but a hint of silver. I knew who it was, but I wanted to know who <em>he<em> was, if he was the man I've been searching for; the one I've been wanting with me for the last 25 years. When I saw the gun in his hand with a large silencer on it, I knew that I'd have to wait and find out later. I tried to morph, but I just got a weird headache. I didn't think twice about it and got up on my feet, planning on using my claws, but they were shrinking down to normal size. I could feel my ears shrinking with them, and I was about out of options. I had no claws, couldn't morph, and I left all my weapons in my car. The Winter Soldier shot off two rounds at me that I tried to deflect, but they ended up hitting me in my ear and my shoulder. I stumbled back, but regained my footing quickly and went to knock the gun away. I got off a few blows on him, but they didn't even faze him. He got me off of him once again and got two more shots off, both embedding themselves in my right leg. I was against the wall and I could feel my leg start to go numb right below where he shot me, but I went after him again; there was no other option at this point. I knew I was going to lose, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight, no matter how pathetic I was compared to him. I ran at him and he got off one shot on my leg, although I couldn't feel it, and hit him in the face hard enough to at least make him stumble a bit. He let go of his gun and we were in a full fight. I managed to break his nose and hyperextend his knee with a good kick, but I was getting weary from blood loss. I went for a punch again, but I was slowing down and before I could do any damage he swept my legs out from under me. I pulled of his mask trying to grab something as I went down and even though my eyes were starting to form black bubbles in my sight, I could see that it was the man I desperately didn't want it to be. This man was different though. He lacked any emotion and he had the '1000 yard stare', not even flinching at the sight of me. With my final breath, I whispered his name and faded into another death, wishing that he was just here to 'kill me' and not take me back. I wasn't even close to stopping him. He left me in the apartment and I watched him, with closing eyes, walk down the hall, never turning back.

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><p>Third Person's P.O.V<p>

The strike team decided that they'd let Steve go back to his apartment and pack a bag before coming back to SHIELD. The enemy, who remains unknown, knew where he lived, so his apartment was compromised. They told him that he'd have a meeting with Pierce over Fury's death, but he should wait until morning. When Steve got to his apartment, though, he saw Claire's car sitting down the road. He assumed that Fury called her in like he did Maria. If he did, he was glad Fury chose her; she was definitely on the very short list of people he trusted, but he was worried that something bad might've happened to her. He rushed up to his apartment but saw that the door was cracked open. It would be useless to go through the window considering it was broken, so he decided to just go through the door. He tried to open it, but something was jamming it. He peeked through and the first thing he saw was blood. His stomach dropped and he looked down to what was blocking the door; feet. He squeezed through the door and saw that it was Claire. There were four holes on her body, and she was covered in bruises. His heart skipped a beat and he dragged her away from the door, shutting it behind him. He quickly called Natasha telling her to come to his apartment _immediately._ He could smell something sweet lingering in the air and assumed it played a part in getting Claire down; he knew that whatever or whoever came after her, they had to be damn good to do this to her. He knew that she could be revived, but wanted to wait until Natasha got here, just in case she knew something about the process.

Natasha got to his apartment in a few minutes and when she came through the door she looked genuinely shocked. She always wore a mask to hide emotions, but the sight of a dead Claire and a very worried Steve trying to wrap her wounds broke through the thick exterior. She, like Claire, carried around a dose of the healing serum, but they needed to start her heart so it could spread properly. She shot the serum into her chest and had Steve do CPR. Claire woke up after a few compressions with a loud groan.

"Can't you wait until _after_ I'm healed to start my heart." She ground out, trying to sit up. She suddenly had a confused look on her face.

"Natasha, did you give me a healing serum?" Claire asked. Natasha nodded. "Did you give it to me on my leg for some reason?"

"No, why?" Nat asked. Claire's look of confusion quickly turned to a worried expression.

"Because I can't feel it. I can't feel my leg. I can't feel it."

* * *

><p>Claire12's P.O.V

Natasha and Steve put me in the shredded chair by Steve's record player and called Tony. I began to get hot because of my anxiety. I couldn't feel my leg and the man who made it that way was the man I love; or at least that man was in there somewhere. When they got done talking to Tony Steve came back over and knelt down beside me.

"He said he'd be here in ten minutes." He said to me. I simply nodded, not even looking towards him. He gave me a worried look, but stood back up and walked away. As I healed, I could feel my body pushing the bullets from my body. I heard the four of them hit the floor with a clack, but even though my body was healing, I still couldn't feel my leg. I tried not to focus on it, so I asked a question.

"W-what happened?" I asked softly. I saw Nat and Steve look at each other in a weird way, so I assumed it was bad; and I was right.

"Someone set an attack on Fury; he was assassinated by an unknown terrorist." Steve answered slowly. I let that information sit for a moment before I slowly nodded again. I could start to feel my nails and ears grow back to their wolf-esque style and could tell that my ear had a missing bit in the shape of a half-circle that didn't heal back with the serum. The fact that it _was_ Bucky over all those years surprised me and made my heart ache at the same time. I knew that if we ever did get him out of HYDRA it'd be hard on him. I couldn't stand all the things I had done and thought about ending my life more than I can count, but I had people to back me up and I was in a good place.

I had no idea how to tell Steve about whom the shooter was, and I really didn't want to. I could barely handle the information right now, and Steve didn't need that on his plate too. Don't get me wrong, not telling him made me feel _pretty_ shitty, and I knew he'd be livid if he found out who he was and that I knew, but even though he won't see it, it'll help him go through whatever he's facing right now. With that argument made in my mind I disregarded it and waited for Tony.

He was there almost immediately, coming through the front door in his iron man suit. He stopped at the large blood stain and lifted his face mask.

"This looks like a murder scene." He says jokingly.

"It is, or was, I guess." I reply, a small smile on my face at his confusion.

"_You can never get rid of me._" I say in mock seriousness. He scoffs, but then has a realizing look on his face.

"So that means that when you carved 'Cowboys' Butts Drives Me Nuts' on my suits last month I could've _actually _killed you?"

"Oh, no. I can practically _hear_ the thoughts churn in your head." I say, somewhat scared of what they are. Despite the situation, I still had to enjoy the humor; if I didn't have a good sense of it, I'd be long dead.

"Can you, uh, help me out a bit? My leg is about as useful as poopy flavored lolli-pop right now." I say, quoting one of my favorite movie insults. Tony came over and scooped me up, roughly I might add, and carried me bridal style.

"This thing really wasn't designed to be gentle." I said, trying to adjust myself in his arms. When Tony is about to head out the door, I turn back to Steve.

"Steve, I can tell something major is up, but I'm not going to ask what it is- I don't think _you_ know the full details yet either, but whatever it is, don't let it change you." I said. He nodded and Tony walked out of the apartment building and flew me back to the Tower. I was going to stay there until I found something to help or heal my leg, and I was hoping that I'd fix it soon. Tony told me to go try and sleep, although I knew that I'd be getting none, while he worked on something for my leg. Of course I protested and decided to stay in the labs with him and Bruce.

After Tony took some measurements of my leg, Bruce came over and examined it with the help of JARVIS and some very futuristic technology. Bruce told me that the bullets basically broke the nerves connected in my leg, and couldn't be repaired. My heart sunk at the news.

I could never walk on my leg without assistance.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey guys:) Sorry if I got you excited for a new chapter but ****_PLEASE KEEP READING._****_THIS IS IMPORTANT._**

**For Claire's leg, I need to know what you guys think. My original plan was to have her leg be like a bionic casting that morphes with her, but nothing else. THAT DOES NOT MEAN IM OPPOSED TO HER HAVING A BADASS WINTER SOLDIER LEG.** **I didn't know if it'd be too 'over-powered' for her to have a badass leg, but if that's what you guys want, I will write it in a heartbeat. Seriously, i love both options.**

**So, I give you two choices:**

**1. The casting with no powers, but morphs to her wolf form**

**Or….**

**2. The 'Winter Soldier' leg that also morphs to her wolf form**

**Leave your answers in the review section and vote with a 1 or 2. (1 for casting, 2 for WS leg, just in case).**

**I really like to write new chapters quickly for you guys, so I don't want to wait too long for votes. The more people that vote, the faster I'll know and the faster I have a new chapter, so ****_pleeeaaaaassseee vote._**

**Other than that, I wanted to say ****_Thank You._**

**Seriously, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and whatnot when I get a follower, review, favorite anything alert. It's almost like hard to explain how it makes me feel, really. You guys are the reason I keep writing, so keep it up:)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Well, it's a good thing I asked you guys because the resounding answer I got was 2:) **

**Flammeous: You make a ****_great_**** point and an even better solution. Seriously, thank you for that plot bunny, and sorry to be a spoiler to the people who know what I'm talking about, but that will probably be in the story now. ****Great, great, great idea****.**

**If this chapter has a few grammatical errors, it's because it's ****_very_**** late at night when I'm posting this.**

**Disclaimer: We have left the physical world and entered the corporeal world. In the corporeal world, disclaimers are irrelevant. We are irrelevant in the corporeal world. *But really, even in the corporeal world, I don't own Marvel***

* * *

><p>Claire12's P.O.V

Bruce went back to his room and I sat in the lab with Tony all night, sleep not even touching me. I sat in a daze, either too many thoughts running through my head or none at all. I was subconsciously gripping my right leg _wishing_ that I'd feel something every time I applied pressure, but nothing came. When Bruce and Tony checked out my leg, they had cut my jeans to short-short length, making the fashion statement of the year (yes, this is sarcasm). I dug my claws into my knee, cutting my skin, but couldn't feel it. I did this for hours, the sound of grinding metal in the background never making me break focus. It was when Tony gave me a worried look after seeing the cuts on my leg that I finally snapped out of it a bit. He walked over to me, and although I didn't look at him, I could feel that he was looking down at me.

"I shouldn't be this emotionally attached to a leg, but I can't explain it." I said, still staring down. I heard Tony sigh and take another breath.

"Would you be willing to get rid of it for a new one?" He asked softly.

"What?" I questioned, snapping my attention back up to his face.

"If I made you a new leg, would you be able to go on without this one?" He gestured to my leg. I knew my leg was useless, however I would still want it. But, if Tony was talking about a new one _and_ Bruce said it'd never be able to feel again, this is probably the only option. I shook my head and I saw a relieved look flash on Tony's face.

"Oh, thank god. If you said no, then the last 7 hours would've been a waste of time." He said, pointing to a workbench behind him. On it was a very rough looking metal ankle and half-calf. If I was a cartoon, my jaw would've hit the floor with an obnoxious 'clank'. I tried to get up, but had to have Tony help out a bit. He maneuvered himself under my arm and helped me hobble my way over to the bench.

"Of course, this is just the rough draft. I was thinking something a little more, uh, like this." He hesitated, looking for the prototype on his workbench screen. On it was a picture of an almost full leg, stopping about four inches from the pelvis.

"It'll be wired so that it makes your brain receive signals telling you it's your real leg; that means that you'll be able to move it like a leg and youll He zoomed in and I could see it had a rib type dynamic. In the middle of each section was another split.

"Why are they split in half?" I asked. Tony simply smirked and pressed a small '2' on the screen. I couldn't believe my eyes as the leg started expanding and shifting to a different shape. When it was done, it perfectly matched my leg when I'm morphed.

"Holy shit." I said, astounded. I knew this would only bulk up Tony even more, but I couldn't hide it.

"Now, to the nitty-gritty of things. If you want to keep this, we'll have to amputate your current leg; that part is inescapable." He said slowly. I nodded, phased a bit, but eager to have my new leg. He clapped once and continued on.

"Good. I should have it done in a few days, and since I'm ever-so-handy, I can even schedule the surgery here, Bruce obviously helping out." He explained. I nodded and hugged him.

"Thank you, Tony. I'm sorry for engraving 'Cowboys' Butts Drive Me Nuts' on your suits." I said genuinely, but chuckling slightly at the last part. He broke the hug and I could see a dubious smile. I looked at him confused and he elaborated a bit.

"Why didn't you tell me you couldn't die?"

"Oh, I can die. HYDRA killed me almost 30 times. The thing is I can be resurrected." I replied slyly. He looked at me through squinted eyes, and I knew what he was thinking.

"Don't take that as a challenge; dying still hurts like a bitch, or at least every time I've died, I should say. That's also your answer to that question you asked me."

"Death hurting or me taking advantage of it?"

"Both." I say, laughing a little.

* * *

><p>I watched the news two days later and nearly had a heart attack. Captain America and Black widow were both wanted for arrest. I was in the living room, and the workshop was 35 levels down. I grabbed my crutches and nearly tripped myself speeding to the elevator. When I reached it, though, the doors opened without me pressing them. Tony came out of the elevator, a bit surprised to see me right there, but quickly smiled and had a look of enthusiasm plastered on his face.<p>

"Good news! I got the leg done sooner than I thought, so I can schedule you for sugery sometime tomorrow." He said joyfully.

"Can we get it done today?" I asked anxiously.

"Why?"

"Something is seriously screwed up in Washington." I said, pointing at the TV screen. When Tony read the headline, he hastily pulled out his phone and called someone.

"Yes, is this Dr. Jacobs? Yeah, this is Tony Stark, I need to schedule you for a surgery at my tower. When? Uh, maybe an hour." Tony's face turned into a scowl, and I assumed the Doctor was laughing at the suddenness and impossibility of the appointment.

"Yeah, I'll pay you 5 million." He said bluntly. "Yeah, okay, I'll be expecting you, then." He said, hanging up.

"Let's go get everything ready." He said, walking back into the elevator. We first went to go get Bruce, he would be the assistant. We left him to get ready and went back down to the workshop to get the leg up and ready. I hadn't seen it yet, and I was very pleasantly surprised at what it looked like.

It looked just like the illustration Tony had a few days back. This model was gold, and there was no visible difference from it and my leg, with the exception of color, of course. The great thing was I didn't have to shave or trim toenails on one leg for the rest of my life.

"Do I have to change the oil every 50,000 miles?" I asked jokingly.

"Nope, I have a mini arc-reactor powering it from the inside." He answers back. We go to pick it up and it's _light._

"What's this made of?" I asked, surprised.

"It's the same alloy as my suit, thus the reason it's gold. I had a feeling candy apple red wouldn't fit you as much."

"Good assumption." I hated wearing red. I always felt like a sap when I said it, but I hated wearing Bucky's favorite color. I know he's alive, but I won't wear it until I get him back, and I _will_ get him back.

We carried the leg down to the small med room and I got ready for the surgery. Bruce had come down in a pair of scrubs and was prepared and even Tony had to wear scrubs. He was going to be in the room with us to show the doctor where to connect each wire and to what nerve. I still had to wear one of those stupid hospital gowns, but can't always get what you want. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and when I was done, JARVIS alerted us that Dr. Jacobs had arrived. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down, and sat on the table.

"You ready kid?" Tony asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Tony, I knew your father when he was 20 years younger than you." I replied, giving back a small smile. The doctor came into the room and had everything set up. I was told to lay back on the table and relax; yeah, like that was happening. He gave me the breathing mask for the anesthetic, and I counted backwards. Before I passed out through, there was one important message to give Tony.

"Don't do anything stupid with my leg or I'll skin you with a spoon." I said, slowing to a halt at 'spoon'. I fell into a deep and dreamless sleep and hoped that everything went well on the other side.

* * *

><p>When I woke up, I was seriously drowsy, and when I'm drowsy, I'm stupid. I could hazily make out a figure sitting in a chair. I also noticed that I was in a bed and was covered up with sheets.<p>

"What?" I asked. Not who, but what. I heard a chuckle and lifted my head a bit, rubbing my eyes with my hand. I stared at the figure for a minute or two without saying anything, and finally had a coherent thought.

"Water, please." Usually that got my mind back to normal thoughts. The figure got up and brought me back a glass which I downed in a second. When I finally got back to normal, I could tell that the figure was Bruce.

"How long did the surgery take and how long was I out?"

"The surgery took about 2 hours and went very well. We had you moved here and you were out for another hour."

"Where's Tony?"

"He went up to check on the situation in DC. Apparently it's escalated a bit." He answered for me. I nodded and stretched a bit, curling my toes tightly. I shot out m arms, stretching the- WAIT.

I just stretched my legs. My _legs._

I tore back the sheets and looked at my new leg. It looked perfect, beautiful. I swung both legs over the side of the bed and plopped down. I slowly stood to my full height, smiling like a kid at a candy store when I saw how it felt just like any other leg. Bruce smiled back at me, encouraging me to keep going. I turned and took my first step and…..

….flung myself face-first into the wall. I pushed myself back and was shocked at what just happened.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" I shouted.

"I have _no_ idea. I think Tony may have forgotten to tell you something about your leg." He said, smiling sheepishly. I took very cautious steps towards the elevator, only falling twice in the 5 feet. We rode up to the living room floor and I tried stepping out without falling over, walking just enough so the elevator could close.

"Why did my leg toss me into a wall like I was nothing?" I asked, a bit annoyed at Tony's antics. His head shot up, and I could tell he forgot something.

"Oh, yeah, about that." He said guiltily.

"About _what?_"

"Uh, your leg has enough power to kick a car down a block." He said, smiling worriedly.

"And this just escaped your mind when you were telling me about it?"

"It's also detachable." He continued.

"I guess I can get through airport security now." I said, somewhat exhausted. I didn't _not_ like the fact that it was a super limb, but I wasn't expecting it.

"How am I supposed to walk right?"

"I guess just be really gentle. Didn't quite think about that property of it." I sighed, but nodded my head. I'll just change the subject for now.

"What's happened in DC?"

"Capcicle got into a fight with an assassin in the middle of a highway." Tony answered nonchalantly. 'Assasin? Uh-oh.'

"Could you fly me there?" I asked, a bit panicky.

"You could take Mark 47." He answered, smiling suspiciously.

"The one that falls apart in the middle of flying?"

"I'll just have it fly low. You wanna do it?" 'Wow, all the options you gave me sound great, it's hard to pick just one.'

"Yeah, let's do it. Can you have it track for vibranium so I can find their location?"

"Ooh, good idea. Yeah, I can, the suits in the workshop if you're ready." I nod and we head down to the workshop. Tony has JARVIS open up the suit and I step inside.

"Man, how short _are_ you? I can barely fit." I joke, smirking at him. He just gives me a look and types in a code to scan for vibranium. He finishes and comes up to me.

"I'll be controlling it from here, so don't worry about the controls. Other than that, stay safe kid." I don't have time to argue how old I am before the suit closes around me and I rocket off towards DC. I learned two things in that five minute flight.

1. Don't have Tony Stark fly you around in a hunk of metal.

2. Don't have Tony Stark, the man you beat, prod and joke of, fly you around in a hunk of metal.

When I finally slowed down, I didn't really _slow down_. I came to an abrupt stop and was tossed from the suit, falling butt first onto the ground. I looked up and saw Steve, Natasha, Maria and a man I didn't know staring down at me, confused. I lifted my head and saw a mini-van and a dam? of sorts.

"Ta-da."


	18. Chapter 18

**Welp, I'm back:) If you guys have any questions on what I changed on the plotline, what her leg looks like or why-and how- she specifically changed her suit, cause there was no easy way to describe that to where it's easy to follow along, just ask. I will answer your questions:) If you have any suggestions, I will read those too;3 Just a warning- if the chapters are ever out late, that'd be because I have no pre-written chapters and like ****_a butt-load of homework….._**** *please get that reference***

**Yes, the ending could be better, but this chapter was getting a bit too long. I will be writing again very soon though, so don't worry;3**

**Disclaimer: I only own Claire- the OC version, just in case your name is Claire.**

* * *

><p>Claire12's P.O.V

After my unexpected, and painful, entrance, the suit flew back off to the Tower, leaving me surrounded by four confused faces. I groaned a bit, and pushed myself onto my hands and knees. I gradually got myself standing and muttered a 'thanks' for helping me up. I looked between them and their 'ride' and gave them a somewhat incredulous look.

"What kind of shit did you guys get into?" I asked in a stunned tone.

"We'll tell you once we get her a doctor." Maria said, gesturing to Nat. I could see that she had been shot in the shoulder and I quickly- and very, _very_ carefully- walked inside the dam doors and could see a man running towards us.

"She needs a doctor!" Maria shouted to him.

"Here, we can take her." He replied, catching up to us.

"No, she'll want to see him first." We walked to another room and when we peeked in we saw a very mangled looking Fury laying in a hospital bed.

"Well it's about damn time." He said, seeing us look into the room. We walked in and Natasha was checked out and wrapped by a doctor. We stood around Fury and he explained what happened to him. Once all of that was out of the way, I was tired of waiting and was getting somewhat antsy.

"So, what exactly happened?" I asked. They hesitantly explained everything to me; the Lumerian Star, Sitwell and Pierce, HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD, and Sam helping out. I was absolutely pissed when I found out that SHIELD was just a better looking HYDRA. I never left HYDRA all those years ago, just switched logos. When Steve was done, he wore a reluctant and sad face.

"It was him, Claire. The assassin, the Winter Soldier, it was- it was Bucky." I sighed and knew he'd be mad at me for this, but I should tell him.

"I knew, Steve. I've known since he's killed me, but I couldn't tell you. I'm sorry." I could see the look of hurt and distrust on his face, but he didn't say anything. He just turned to Fury and went over a plan. That was a serious blow, but I deserved it to an extent. I should've at least told him when I thought that it might be him, but I felt like it'd distract him too much; it distracted _me_ too much and I was taught for 47 years not to be distracted.

He went on to explain his plan in full detail; we were to plant some sort of chip into the Insight Hellicarrier's main control panel and take them all down. I swore under my breath when I remembered where my suit and weapons were.

"Is my car still by your apartment?" I asked Steve.

"Yeah, why?"

"Anything that'd be of use to me is in that car." I said, frustrated. I'd have to sneak all the way back around to my car, which is on the other side of DC, and the city's full of people with our death warrant. 'Woah-ho, slow down there, Flash. _You're _dead.' Those dumbasses forgot that I couldn't die. Ha! I could make a stroll around the whole city before they realized that I'm still here. I had a huge smile on my face.

"I'll be back in less than an hour." I said, walking out.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked, running after me.

"I'm dead, as of now- killed by an assassin. They have no warrant out for me." I replied happily. "I'm just going to get my stuff and I'll be back. It's not like I'll be parading myself through town, I'll still be careful." Steve nodded and I started heading to his apartment. Would've been cool if Sam would let me borrow his wings for a bit, but I probably would've slammed myself into a building on the way there. So, once I was back into a more main part of town, I got onto a subway and went like that. I laughed to myself thinking about how bad it'd be for Steve and Nat to get on with me; we'd be stopped within a few feet of the stop, if we made it that far. It was a quick ride, only taking about 15 minutes to get there. I still had a few blocks to walk, and I wanted to be back at the dam ASAP, so I started booking it. My Mustang was luckily still there and in good shape. I pulled out my keys and got in, searching for my bag. Once I made sure it was still there, I hoped in and drove back. It took a while to get there due to inexperienced left-foot driving on my part. I wasn't going to use my Hulk Hogan leg to drive my baby; too much of a risk. When I did get back, however, Steve, Fury, Nat, Sam, and Maria were all gathered around a small table. Maria was explaining to them how they were going to implant the correct chip into what slot. Luckily I had gotten there just in time to get the run down, so I went to a separate room to change into my suit and get my weapons ready.

When I was changing, I realized something. When I morphed, it'd take my leg longer to adjust. I also realized there'd be no more fur on that leg, so it'd look weird in my suit. I decided to cut the leg portion of it off, just below where my new leg connected with my thigh, exposing my leg. 'When I get back I'll desperately need a new suit, but for now I pull it off.' I thought with a smile. As for my morph time, I thought that if I focused enough I could make my morph go from head to toe, slowing down a bit but not too much that it'd make a big difference. I concentrated on my head, trying to feel that overwhelming sense of growth. After a second, I could feel it, and I let in run down my spine and flow out to my feet. It had worked; my leg had been able to keep up. Now if I have a situation, I just have to close my eyes and focus….. Great, I guess I'll have to practice quite a bit when I get back, but for now it'd have to work. I morphed back and headed back out to the trio I'd be fighting with. When I got there, though, I entered to two surprised faces on Nat and Steve.

"What happened to your leg?" Steve asked, astonished.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, mocking anger. He stumbled and began to apologize, but I cut him off.

"Steve, I was joking." I said, smiling. I continued on though. "Uh, when I got back to the Tower, Bruce checked me out and said that the bullets cut the nerve and I would never be able to walk on it, unassisted, again. Tony, being the ever-so-great inventor that he is, decided to make me a new one, the one currently replacing my real one. I had to have my leg amputated for this one, so I decided to go through with it, considering my other one wasn't helping. That's also why you might've seen me walk with a weird limp; this thing has the power to kick Thor across the sky without hesitation and I haven't quite gotten used to it yet." I explained. They just stood there looking at it. Sam, thankfully, broke the silence.

"Well, I think it's pretty badass." He said.

"I know, right?" I replied back, chuckling at his statement. "Well, are we gonna get going? Were running a bit low on time." I asked.

"No, if you're gonna fight in a war, you gotta wear a uniform." He said, walking out. 'Well, you could at least explain to me what that means, but whatever.' I followed him outside and ran to catch up with him. Well, I tried to run to catch up, but ended up with a concrete scuff on my face.

"God, that's annoying. Let's try something else." I took off my small translator from my belt and attached it to my neck, slowly morphing again. I tried trotting over to him, where he was trying to not laugh at my failure of walking, and could feel a large spring in my step, but it was still manageable. When I reached him, he still had a smile on his face, so I let out a warning growl, quickly silencing him. We walked to the Smithsonian of all places, and entered through the back. I morphed to my human from, man, that sounds terrible and cheesy, and walked to one of the exhibits- a 'Captain America and the Howling Commandos' exhibit.

"Aw, hell yes. Why didn't you tell me they had this? I would've been out here _quite_ often." I said, looking around in awe.

"Slipped my mind I guess. And we're not here to look around, come on." Steve replied. Pfft, like I'm not gonna look around. The last time I saw any of this stuff was when I lived it. I looked at all the photos, and even though they reminded me that many of these people were either dead or close to it, I felt an huge feeling of nostalgia wash over me. They brought up memories, vivid ones without haze, and I could practically hear them. They had pictures of me and Bucky in there, one of our few pictures where we were dressed up for the date we were about to have. My eyes started to sting, but I shut it off in an instant, looking down the rest of the way to where Steve was going. I could look at them later.

After a few more minutes of maneuvering through the exhibit, we came to a stand with all the Commando outfits on dummies, even mine.

"Hey Steve, how'd they get my outfit? The real thing is shredded to bits somewhere in an old HYDRA facility." I asked, confused.

"When they had your funeral, they had it recreated." He said, taking his old suit off the mannequin.

"I had a funeral?!"

"Yeah, a, uh, a few weeks after you went missing." He answered, somewhat solemnly. He stopped pulling the shirt off for a second. I waited a few moments before talking.

"Did- did he go?" I hesitantly asked.

"Yes; it was just Peggy, Colonel Phillips, the Commandos and I. He just stood there, and said nothing, never looking away from the ground." He replied softly. I tried to think of something to say, something to get off subject, something to take my mind off what I just learned, but my thoughts wouldn't waiver off of what Steve just told me. They replayed over and over again, and it made my stomach ache. I didn't notice Steve come up to me with his suit on already.

"Come on, we have to go." He said quietly. I nodded and headed to the door. When we got out, Sam and Nat were waiting there for us. Luckily the Triskelion was only so far away, and it was almost stupid how easy it was to break in to it without being noticed. Natasha went in undercover while Steve and I headed to the comm room. Steve gave his very well-done impromptu speech, and I was getting nervous. Shit was seriously hitting the fan here, and the way it'll end depends on what happens in the next hour.

We ran back outside and got onto our assigned hellicarriers. Sam got to his first, and I could hear the bombs going off, trying to get him out of the skies. When I got close to mine, I morphed and started running. The good thing about my new leg was that it pushed me to about 70 miles an hour, and everyone I ran by couldn't even get a decent shot off at me. I ran straight to the control room, only having to take out 5 HYDRA goons to get there. I morphed back and punched in the code to bring the panel down and blanked on which one to take out.

'Shit.' I thought. I scanned over all the other cards, but there was so many. I had part of an idea which one it was, so I pulled out the card. 'Or was it this one?' Whatever, I stuck in the new card and told Maria to lock it in. She confirmed it, so I guess everything went okay. I asked for Sam and Steve's current status and she told me that only Sam had gotten the chip into place, but he was out for the count. I told her to keep relaying his status to me and I ran back to the deck of the hellicarrier. I figured I'd just circle in a quinjet where Steve was, but when I got to the deck it was like a giant wave of HYDRA soldiers. I smirked at the fact that they thought they'd stop me now. I took out both my revolvers that I still carried and shot 12 before they even knew what was going on. I ran at them, a bit awkwardly on my leg, but still getting there quickly and taking out another two with my knives. I heard three clinks from my leg and knew they were bullets deflecting. I ran after the shooter thinking something about 'how these guys were worse than storm-troopers' and slit his throat without hesitation. There were still about five left and I could tell they were nearly peeing their pants. I still had my nail clips on, so I started going after them, two running away. I took down all three at once; two with five slashes across their necks and one with a skull-shattering kick to the head. I ran over to the quinjet, starting it with a small rumble of the engines. I took off and flew towards the third hellicarrier, asking Maria for Steve's status.

"Not good; he only has a minute and I can't get a response from him." I went as fast as I could, but the last hellicarrier was high up and I just took off. I was almost there when Maria shouted in my comm "Claire, get out of there! He's blowing them now!"

My stomach dropped.

"WHAT?! STEVE'S STILL IN THERE!" I shouted back. Not a second later all the hellicarriers opened fire. Everything, all at once, rained upon me. My left engine was hit and I was sent spiraling towards the ground. I ejected from the plane and landed in the water, but my seat belt was caught. I struggled to get free from the chair and I was sinking quickly. I finally managed to rip open the metal from the seat belt and swam back to the surface. Proceeding to get hit on the head by Steve's shield and knocking me out.

When I woke back up, I had drifted to shore. I could smell burning oil from the crashes and when I looked at the adjacent shoreline, there was no Triskelion; just a ginormous pile of wreckage. I pushed myself back to my feet and looked around. I saw a body, an ant's size from this distance- and I had enhanced vision. I felt too worn to run, so I morphed and trotted over too it. When I got close enough to see that it was Steve, I wasn't feeling so tired anymore. I sprinted towards him and could tell that had just received the worst beating he's gotten in his life. I could hear the chopping sound of a helicopter and assumed that it was Nat and/or Sam considering that they'd be looking for Steve. My comm had moved onto its next life as scrap metal, so I went with the loudest thing I had, a howl. A few moments later I could start to hear the chopping sound get closer and closer and before long they were here with me. I morphed back and lifted Steve into the helicopter. We headed to the nearest hospital, but I was very worried. I could see water streaming from the side of his mouth and he had three major splotches of blood on his uniform. When we got to the hospital they rushed Steve into the emergency room, trying to make sure he'd live. I waited outside forever before they said they could let me in. Sam came with me while Nat was working with the government who now wanted _our_ ass. For saving them? For sacrificing ourselves so they could be free? Sure.

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><p>A few days later, Sam had Marvin Gaye playing on his iPod and I was reading <span>Fahrenheit 451<span> in a chair across the room. When Steve woke up, I didn't notice, but when he said "On your left." I assumed it was some inside joke, but I wasn't worried about that, I wanted to know what happened to him.

"Steve, who did this to you?" I asked. Whoever it, or they, were, they had to be _perfect_ to be able to do this much damage.

"Bucky. He said I was his mission, but he pulled me out from the water. He's starting to remember." He said, hesitating at the end. I stood up and walked over to him.

"He's only been out there for a few days, I can catch him. Get better soon, I mean that. I don't want to beat up Clint for his last healing serum." I said with a small smile. I leaned down and kissed his head before walking out the door. I went to my car and got my translator out the back. I didn't want to wear my suit around, so I just took my other outfit with me. I laid them in the front seat and drove to the shoreline of the Potomac. I parked my car, grabbed my things, and walked to where I found Steve laying. I hid my other outfit behind one of the trees, put on my translator, and morphed to the sad sound of ripping clothes. I saw the remains of other foot prints and followed them to the woods, using the scent left to trail him the rest of the way.

I followed his trail for hours, it was dark before I got even a whiff of a fresh scent, and as soon as I found that I ran after it. I tracked it to the Smithsonian's back door and waited for him to come out. I assumed he was doing what I did when I found out; looking for information. I waited until the Smithsonian closed, but he still wasn't out yet.

'Well, I hope janitors aren't freaked out by giant wolves.' I thought as I entered. I walked on the pads of my feet, trying to be as silent as possible. I walked by the mannequins, smirking when I saw the Captain America mannequin wasn't there, and walked to the exhibit about me and Bucky. I saw him standing there in a jacket and a baseball cap. 'Why do people always insist on _that_ disguise? Hiding yourself like that _makes _you look suspicious.' I thought, slowly coming up behind him. Luckily no one else was around, so I sat around 10 feet behind him and thought of what to say.

"It hurts, doesn't it? Worse than anything you've felt before; even the chair. To not remember. Everything in a haze, no matter how hard you try. And to not forget; to hear the screams at night, to feel their blood on your hands when there's nothing. It's worse than anything they put you through, but I can help." I said slowly. He turned around, a little surprised to see that a wolf was talking to him, but shrugged it off.

"I'm not going to make you come with me, you have the choice." I could see he was contemplating it, but after a few moments, he nodded, and we walked out.


	19. Chapter 19

**Longest chapter- whaaaaaaaaaat? Yeah just as a warning, this chapter does have mature language use. Also this chapter is kinda fluffy:) **

**If you have any comments, questions or tips leave them in the comment section;3**

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs; not the great movies mentioned or Marvel.**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

When we left the Smithsonian, I still had to walk back to the shoreline so I could get my clothes. We were walking back in silence, but there were a few things I needed to know.

"What do you want to be called?" I asked finally. I only received silence, so I went on. "When I found out, I didn't feel like anyone. When they called me Claire, I felt guilty and when they called me 12 I felt anger, so I went by C for almost a year. I don't know if you feel like that or not, so I want to know if you want to be called something other than Bucky, James, or the Winter Soldier." I explained calmly.

"B." He rasped out after a moment.

"I speak multiple languages fluently, I assume you do as well, so is there a preferred language you want to speak in?"

"No, English is ok."

"Is there anything you want to know?" I asked, my last question for him; three for now was almost too much. I didn't get a reply after a few minutes, so I shrugged it off and kept walking.

"Who were you to me?" 'I loved you.' I waited a few minutes before quietly answering.

"A close friend."

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><p>We got back to the shoreline around midnight, the moon providing just enough light to see. I grabbed my clothes from the tree I hid them behind and went behind one of the thicker trees, but I knew it wouldn't cover my body all the way. I layed them down and poked my head out.<p>

"Don't look." He nodded and turned the other way. I changed hastily into my jeans, Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt, and black combat boots before walking back out.

"Ready?" We walked back to my car and got in. I could tell that he was eyeing me a bit as I started it up, but I tried not to notice it. I had to figure out where to go, so I called up Nat to see if she had any apartments here. She picked up on the second ring.

"Do you have any apartments available currently in DC?" I spoke first.

"Yeah, I have one two floors below Steve's, why?"

"I'm not driving all the way back to the tower tonight, my alias is gone and I can't use my real name right now either. How are you holding up?" I knew she hated having to spill every secret she had, but it was a necessary evil.

"I'm bunking with Clint until I can make a new cover." She replied.

"Nat, make this cover _you_ this time, okay?" I asked softly.

"I plan on it." She replied contently. We both hung up after that, not saying goodbye. We hated saying goodbye, only using it when we went on missions in case we didn't see each other again. I hated the awkward silence so I picked out a CD. I put in 'Obscured by Clouds' and tried to calm down a bit on the drive to the apartment building. We sat in silence for most of the way there, but B finally spoke.

"Why do you have leg like my arm?" Did he not remember? The bastards must've just wiped him.

"It didn't work anymore." I lied smoothly, but vaguely. He took the answer without question, so I kept driving. When I got to the apartment, I took my travel bag out of the back and went up to the room. I knew it was locked, so I picked it to get in. I dropped my bag off by the door and turned on the lights. I knew that he probably hadn't eaten and that there'd be no food in the fridge, so I grabbed cash and told B not to leave, I'd just track him down again. Before I went, though, I put on my fingerless gloves and ear clips to hide both of them. I was pretty happy to see that Steve lived by a lot of all night dives. It's an untold rule that every dive should have the best burgers, and the closer I got to my target, the louder my stomach rumbled. I got a whopping 6 _huge_ cheeseburgers, two large orders of fries and two chocolate milkshakes. It's always good to over pack, just in case. Besides, I'm sure he had some form of the super-soldier serum if he was able to survive the fall and even be the Winter Soldier. I was probably gone 10 minutes, but when I got back to the apartment I heard a crash. I quickly opened the door and found a hole in the wall and a smashed TV controlled on the floor. His look of anger quickly turned to one of guilt. I smirked a bit, remembering my first experiences with technology. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off.

"Don't worry about it. When I first tried TV, I morphed and ripped it to pieces." I told him, setting the food on the countertop.

"For now, let's stick with the simple things, like trying food. I never got anything other than soup and bread in HYDRA, so I'm assuming you didn't either. This is about as good as it comes. It might not look good, but it's grease covered heaven." I said, a smile plastered on my face. I grabbed two burgers out of one sack and the fries out of the other. I tried not to let him notice me watch his reaction as I bit into my own burger. He eyed it suspiciously, but a few moments later took a bite from it. I almost chocked on my burger when quickly took another giant bite from his. I took my milkshake from the holder and sipped down my bite.

"Yeah, I almost cried when I first had one." I said laughing. He polished off two more burgers before starting his fries. I had just finished my burger, so I popped off my milkshake's lid and dipped my fries in it. B gave me a judgmental look.

"Hey, you've never even _had_ a milkshake, and don't knock it till ya try it." I said to his reaction. He slowly sipped on the milkshake before inhaling it in less than a minute. I said nothing, just stared at him wide-eyed; half amazed that that was possible and half of trying desperately not to laugh. He continued to eat everything else after that. I think he was still hungry afterwards, but I had just spent twenty dollars on food for two of us, and I was _tired._ I showed B to his room, but told him not to worry if he wasn't tired; it wouldn't bother me if he stayed up. I changed into an old hockey jersey I got from a game I went to and black spandex shorts. I sat down on my bed and looked at my prosthetic leg. Tony told me it was removable, but how? I felt around where it connected to my thigh, eventually finding two small finger-print scanners. I put my index and middle fingers on them and my leg popped off silently. To say it felt awkward and weird would be a large understatement; I could still feel it itching, but nothing was there. I sighed and set the leg against the wall, laid back into the bed, and hoped that sleep came easily. I watched the clock tick to 1:37 and blacked out after that.

I woke up around 3:19, but wondered why. The apartment was silent, so I brushed it off, but as soon as I laid back down I heard quiet groans and labored breathing from across my room. I got up one foot and hopped my way across into B's room. I slowly opened his door and saw him writhing around on the bed. I went to the edge of his bed, where his feet were, and grabbed his leg, raising it a bit and shaking slightly. When I first got away from HYDRA, the nightmares were absolute hell, and I knew that if I shook him on the shoulder I'd probably end up with a broken nose of black eye, so this was the best option. What I didn't realize, though, was that he was sleeping with a throwing knife. He sat straight up in bed, throwing it directly at my heart. I managed to get out of the way of it hitting my heart, but it got a rather deep cut in on my left arm.

"Washington DC, 2014, an apartment!" I shouted, trying to get him to snap out of it. I always woke up thinking I was in a HYDRA base, so I hoped this would bring him back. It seemed to work, because I watched his as his eyes went from 'assassin' to 'oh, shit' in less than a second.

"Ah, why can't you sleep with a stuffed animal or something?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit; didn't work. I sighed, and dug the knife out from the wall where it embedded itself.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've received much, much worse. I think my death count is up to 77." I said, hopping over to hand him back his knife. He just looked at me though half angry half confused eyes.

"Why? Why are you doing this for me?"

"Because when I got out, the thing I needed most was just someone who _understood_." I replied.

"No, I don't deserve this. I remembered doing terrible things, I'm the one who did that to you," he said, gesturing to my leg. "I almost killed your friend, and I know I killed you."

"You also pulled him out of the water, saving his life. I've been killed 76 other times, B, I can't stay dead. And If you think I'm sad about my leg, you're wrong. Not only that, but you've won the battle, and if you let this get the better of you, you'll lose the war. You have time left, plenty of it, so don't let your past control you anymore; this is your new start." I said, sitting down beside him. I tried to ignore the fact he was shirtless at the moment, but damn, he's got some _serious_ abs. 'No, _bad_ Claire, bad.'

"Wanna watch a movie?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I broke the TV."

"On the laptop." I reply. He waited but nodded after considering that he probably wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep. I got up and went over to one of the dressers. I was in luck tonight, Clint had stayed here before. 'Hmm, Nat has some explaining to do when she gets back.'

"If you want to wear something other than you suit, a friend of mine left some of his clothes here that you can probably fit into." He nodded, so I went to my bag, searching for the movie I always packed; my favorite, _Young Frankenstein. _I smiled a bit, this movie always, without failure, made me feel better. I also grabbed the laptop from the bottom of the bag and the small med kit I had before heading back into B's room. He was wearing a white t-shirt- a little snug, but worked- and black sweats. I almost squealed, but kept under control. 'My life is a struggle.'

I walked over to the bed and sat down, leading against the headboard. I quickly took care of my cut and set the laptop on the bed. He just kept standing there, so I spoke up.

"Well, pop a squat. It's a queen sized bed and this movie is a classic, so you'd be missing out." 'Wow, look at that, already inviting him to bed.' 'Shut up, brain, now is not the time.' He slowly sat down and mimicked my position. I started up the laptop and played the movie, being entranced at the beginning credits. I could hear all the lines in my head before the characters even said them. I still laughed at all the comedy scenes, even though I've seen them countless times. B stayed quiet, but I do think I saw a smile flash across his face when the creature was singing 'Putting on the Ritz'. By the end of the movie, I heard his breathing soften and his eyes were closed. Of course now _I _wasn't tired, but I shut the laptop and snuck back into my room nonetheless. The clock read 5:00, so I guessed I'd just get as much sleep as possible before I had to get up. I closed my eyes and tried to keep an empty mind until I fell asleep, working a long while later. I slept dreamlessly for another 4 hours before getting up and taking a shower. I took my leg with me so I could re-attach it when I was done. I washed off with 'cool breeze' shampoo and conditioner and 'fresh rain' soap. That's one thing I missed about the 40's- or even the 80's for this matter- they had soap titles that made sense, or at least more sense than 'cool breeze'. My gauze had come loose and I could see that a large purple bruise was surrounding the cut. Other than that, it was healing fine, so I took off all the wrapping and threw it away. I turned off the shower and reached for a towel; a non-existent one. I pushed back the shower curtains and looked around. No towels.

'Scheisen.' I listened to any sounds on the other side of the door, but heard nothing. I crept back to my room, hugging my pj's to my body, and quickly shutting the door behind me. B's door was shut, so I assumed he was still sleeping. Luckily, I had brought my travel bag to my room, so I put on another pair of light skinny jeans with my _Rocky Horror Picture Show_ sweatshirt. I braided my hair back, brushed my teeth, and put on a little makeup before walking out. I went to the living room, saw B on the couch facing me, and froze.

"How long were you there?" I asked.

"An hour." Crap.

"So, did you uh…"

"What's your tattoo?" Yup, he did. No one knew that I even had that tattoo, so he had to have. He smirked at me, a shit-eating grin.

"It's Girl With Balloon and wipe that grin off your face." I answered. His smile lowered but it was still there. I sighed and went back to grab another twenty from my bag.

"So, where do you want to eat? There's a diner down the street that has the best pancakes." I ask. I really didn't feel like driving out to some fast food place for breakfast and besides, _pancakes_. Of course I only received the look of 'Is that even a real question?' so I downed myself to reasoning.

"Aw, come on, it's just a tiny little diner and you've never had a pancake. And I don't want fast food."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I have a large bionic arm."

"Yes, and I have a large bionic leg. Wear a sweatshirt or something."

"People would recognize me."

"I could cut your hair." That made him stop altogether. I saw him think about it, and the longer he took, the more I knew he wanted to say yes. After a few moments, I made the decision for him.

"Come on, you're getting a makeover." I said, motioning for him to follow me to the bathroom. Clint had left his electric razor here so I decided to take this opportunity. I went back and grabbed a stool for him to sit on. I sat him down and went straight to work. I cut his hair down to a regular length but giving a bit more on the top. The stubble he had made the cut look modern and made him look very different; more like Bucky and less like the HYDRA asset. I turned the razor off and set them on the sink. The mess could be swept up later, I was getting anxious.

"Fabulicious; let's go eat." I was really craving food now. He sighed and went back to his room to change. When he came back out he was wearing jeans, sneakers, and an old Ben's Chili Bowl sweatshirt with his hands in the pocket. 'Why does Clint even have this stuff?' B defiantly pulled off the tourist look though, and it was a major improvement from his disguise when I found him at the Smithsonian. We walked down a few blocks to the diner and were seated quickly. We were given time to look at the menu, but I could tell B didn't have a good guess to what anything was or what he liked. He looked at me completely lost.

"How about chocolate chip pancakes?" I asked suggestively. He just shrugged, so I took it as a yes. I ordered us the exact same thing; chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon and black coffee. He had the whole thing gone within 5 minutes, but I wasn't going to give myself a stomach ache trying to eat _that_ fast, so I decided to go over what we had to do.

"I'll have to see Steve today, do you want to go with me?" Yes, I know, stupid question to ask the man who nearly killed him a few days ago, but I wanted him to get used to choice. Of course he shook his head no, so I told him that he'd have to stay in the apartment for a while. When we went back to the apartment, I told him I'd be back soon and left for the hospital. When I got in, Sam had went home to rest so I closed the door behind me and sat down beside Steve.

"I found him." I said quietly. His eyes opened wide and he sat up in bed.

"Where is he? I want to see him." He said, rushed.

"No, you have to give him time. It'll take him awhile, he doesn't even recognize me yet. I don't know how often they wiped him, but from what he remembers, they must've done it every time he was out of cryo. It took me a year, Steve. I don't know if it will take him longer or not." I explained. I knew he didn't want to hear it, but he had to be told. I could tell he was thinking about it, and finally nodded sadly.

"I'll have to go back to the tower, all the files I have of us are there." He was about to interject but I continued. "When you're healed, go back to the old apartment. I'm doing my best here, I can only do so much."

"Thank you, Claire." He said genuinely.

"Hey, what mutant friends for?" I asked jokingly. I had to return back to the apartment, so I said goodbye and left. When I got back, I expected nothing too bad had happened; I had only been gone half an hour. As I walked in, I certainly didn't expect his left arm to be in pieces on the on the living room table.

"I think I have a friend that can help you with that." I say, smirking.

"Who?" He asked.

"Well, you used to know his father." I started packing up my clothes into the bag again so we could leave. "And you're going to meet him in, oh, 5 hours or so."

"Why? Are we leaving?"

"Yup. This isn't my apartment and all my belongings are back in New York. You're originally from there too. Do you know how to put your arm back together?"

"No." 'You took it apart without knowing how to put it back together again? You're worse than a child.'

"Then why'd you take it apart?"

"It was starting to malfunction."

"Well, I guess just pack it up. We're leaving soon." I sighed. I took my bag out to the car and helped B pack his arm. I texted Tony telling him that I was coming back and that I was bringing an old friend. We rode together in silence for a while, sometimes I would explain things he might've missed in history when he was with HYDRA, but we would fall back into quiet immediately. House of the Holy playing in the background until I had to break the stillness again.

"Just as a warning, when we get there don't let Tony get to you. He's an egotist and partial asshole, but don't take anything he says seriously. Other than that he's generally a child; a genius one, but a child nonetheless. I also have all our files there, so if you want them you have them. The bad thing is I only have your HYDRA file from the first time you and I were taken."

"How am I supposed to find out about the other me?"

"Ask, I suppose. And even though it seems doubtful now, you _will_ start to remember, it just takes time."

"How long did it take you?"

"To remember? Almost two years, but that was with no help from someone from my time."

"How long does it take to forget?" He asked after a few minutes.

"You don't." I answered darkly. It was an easy question, but with an answer not wanted.

"Then how do you pass it?" This was not so easily answered. There really was no definitive answer, but moreover decisions to make. I spoke after a few minutes of thinking.

"Every time I've been killed, I've seen nothing. No heaven, hell, limbo, or anything spiritual- just eternal darkness. It doesn't matter if I'm dead for a minute or a year; the darkness seems to last years, hundreds and hundreds of years. I want to see something when I die; even if that's impossible with the things I've done, I'm not going to just sit back and accept it." I answer with a mix of sadness and determination. I know that's impossible- there's no religion that says you can buy your way into heaven, but ignorance can be bliss. We remained silent the rest of the way, but we were, luckily, only half an hour away.

When we arrived, I parked my car in the garage and hauled everything to the elevator and rode up to the floor my apartment was on. On the way up I also told him about Pepper, Bruce and any other occasional residents. We arrived to my apartment a few minutes later and I tossed my bag onto the bed. I grabbed a few pieces of B's arm and he grabbed the rest, bringing it up to the living room floor where Tony was at. When the elevator doors opened, I wasn't quite expecting Tony to be watching _Back to the Future II_ with Pepper, Bruce, Nat, Thor and Clint.

"Oh, that makes it a bit awkward." I said, stepping out onto the floor. The lights were off, but as soon as Tony had JARVIS turn them on, Nat pulled out her gun, aiming it at B. I stepped in front of him as fast as I could.

"WAIT! He's with me, he's okay." I said quickly. Nat had a scowl on her face, but slowly lowered her gun, sending me a look for me to explain. I sent a reassuring glance towards B and set down the pieces of his arm I was holding.

"Okay, well I told you that I needed to use your apartment- that was because I tracked him down and needed a place to stay. He can't remember, so I'm helping him out like you guys did. And I thought you said you were bunking with Clint."

"I am, I just didn't say where."

_"I don't think it's the first time you've bunked with Clint, either."_ I said in Russian, with a devious smile gracing my face. I knew Clint and Nat would fully understand the situation, and I also knew that Thor, with his allspeak, and B would understand the words, but not the situation. I saw Nat and Clint look at each other with a 'we've been caught' look, and I smile grew even larger.

"Thor, B, never repeat those words or hell will rain upon you." I said seriously, but still smiling. I switched my focus to Tony and let Nat and Clint simmer with that information for now.

"I have a new toy for you." I said, picking B's arm back up. I think I saw a bit of a sparkle in his eyes when he saw it.

"And where, pray-tell, did you get this?" He asked, grabbing at the few pieces I had.

"It's not mine, but I'm pretty sure he got it from a fucked up 'doctor' in Germany." I said. "I was wondering if you could repair it." I asked him.

"Of course; I'm a genius, aren't I? Although, I do have a question, who are you?" He asked, the question meant for B. I looked back at him, but he went ahead and answered anyways.

"I don't know."

"Hmm, kinda _Bourne Identity_-ish. Did you happen to fall off of a ship in the middle of an ocean?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. Thor and B both had the same expression of confusion from the references, so I thought B had been in with them long enough.

"Ignore him." I said to B. "He's going to be staying here for a bit until I can get back to my old apartment, which may be awhile due to circumstances." I said to Tony, moving back towards the elevator. I smirked again before getting in and shouted at Clint and Nat,

_"I already have your ship name figured out."_ I got out before the doors closed. I looked towards B who seemed to be in a mix of emotions.

"Well, that was only _almost _as awkward as I thought it'd be."


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey, guys;) I'm super sorry about the late update, but I've been really busy and this chapter was somewhat hard to write for some reason. I'll try and update again soon so I can try and makeup from for my evil deeds:( Other than that 20 FLAGPOLING CHAPTERS!**

**CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! CAUSE I CAN'T.**

**I'M NOT LYING TO YOU, I REALLY JUST THOUGHT UP A LITTLE HEAD-CANNON AND WAS JUST LIKE 'Yeah, let's just see what happens. I've never wrote anything before, but I think I'll be okay….' AND THIS HAPPENED. HOLY SHIT. JUST, AH.**

**If you have any comments, questions or suggestions leave them in the review section:) You'll earn serious brownie points;3 **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of the other copyrighted material in this chapter. I own my own ideas, but just barely.**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

When we got back to my room, it was only around 7:30, so I decided to grab the files I still had. I wished I still had B's SSR file, but alas some _dipshit_ had to go and lose it. I sighed and pulled out the files; I had them tucked into a hidden compartment in one of my dresser's drawers. I had my SSR file and both HYDRA files, one from when I was kidnapped and one from my time as 12- which was very hard to get a hold of. I also grabbed Steve's and B's files; B's being from when he was taken the first time. There was a part of me screaming not to give B my files, not to let him see what I did all those years ago, but I want him to trust me; to know I won't keep secrets from him. I walked back into the living room where B was sitting on the couch, staring at where his bionic arm usually is. I could tell he thought of his arm as a burden to bear for nothing; he just happened to fall, only ending up being HYDRA's fault. I came over quietly and sat next to him, putting the files on the small coffee table in front of us. We sat there for a while, thinking of what to say when B broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for what I did to your leg." He said seriously.

"First off, you didn't pull the trigger, _HYDRA_ did, and secondly, my leg is pretty badass. And your arm is too, so why do you see it as curse?"

"It killed so many people, now it's just a reminder of what I've done."

"So you'd rather have your original arm?" Yes, my question was meant to have an obvious answer. And, of course, he provided such answer with an added 'are you serious' look.

"Why do you still carry guns and knives? Surely they have helped end others lives like your arm. It doesn't have to be a burden to you, you just have to have view it differently." I said. He looked at me in the eyes, but lowered them again and nodded. I stood back up and went to the elevator door.

"I'm going to go talk with them, explain a few things. There's food in the fridge and pantry if you get hungry." I said, pressing the 'up' button. I remember something before I get in, though, and a large smile makes its way onto my face.

"Oh, that reminds me, we'll have to go shopping."

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><p>"So, I'm guessing you want an explanation." I say getting off the elevator. Tony, Nat, Clint and Bruce just stared at me like angry parents, whereas Thor just looked overall confused.<p>

"Wait, when did you get here? I was only gone a few days." I ask, the question meant for Thor.

"Heimdall said that you, Lady Natasha and friend Steve were in a grueling battle, so I came to see if I could be of assistance, but by time I was able to come the battle had ended." I nodded and decided to get back on topic.

"Nat obviously you know that was Bucky, Steve and I's best friend, but for about half a year before I was made to be HYDRA's favorite weapon, Bucky and I, well, we were in a relationship." I said, my gaze starting to lower. I didn't like talking about this to others and despised the memories that accompanied my thoughts. Don't get me wrong, they're my favorite memories, but they just bring me back to the situation at hand.

"We only had so much time together during the war, but we- we loved each other. I couldn't let him go through what I had to _alone_. He doesn't deserve it, not after what he's faced. I, I know it might be hard to understand, especially after what happened in DC, but I just couldn't." I said, speeding up towards the end in fear of my voice breaking. "I'm not just doing this for me either, this is what Steve wants too if that helps you make your decision." I explained. I looked back at them to see their responses.

"We'll help him. All of us here have made mistakes, and he didn't know better; besides, I'm already fixing his arm." Tony said, looking around for others confirmation. Since he spoke up, everyone else nodded their heads. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much." I said genuinely. I stayed and talked things over about how to help him, what to call him, ect., for a little over a few hours. It was about 9:30 when I said goodnight and went back to my room. Tony had said that he would be able to have his arm fixed by noon tomorrow, so I was happy to tell B that, but when I got through the door he was on the floor writhing in pain with his hand gripping his head. I knew exactly what was going on, so I rushed to the kitchen and got a glass of water before running to his side. I sat him up against the couch and made him slowly drink from the glass. He was remembering things all at once, just like when I saw the Howling Commandos posters in Phil's old office. His eyes were shut tightly and his face was scrunched up in pain and confusion, but I knew it was slowly passing. I sat the glass down on the table and somewhat straddled his legs. He kept his eyes shut but his whole body was starting to relax. I knew he was trying to hide tears from me; tears of anger, sadness, and agonizing pain, so I wrapped my arms under his and tightly hugged him. He returned the hug forcefully, even with only one arm. We sat there silently for a long time; both of us understood each other well in that moment. Although we could've sat there endlessly, we eventually broke apart. I looked him in the eyes, trying to think of something to say, but everything I could think of would've been obvious. I sighed and stood back up. 'Guess we'll watch another movie tonight.' When I went to the TV I looked for something good, but nothing really sounded great at the moment, so I put in Season 1, Episode 1 of House. I have all eight seasons and it's the only TV show I own on DVD. B sat on the couch and I sat in the recliner with a huge fuzzy blanket.

Just another secret about me, but I am a firm believer that blankets are not just a man-made object; they are god-sent from somewhere holy.

Anyways, we watched House until around 3 in the morning. I made sure B fell asleep before me, that way I wasn't already asleep if something were to happen. I turned off the TV and leaned back in the recliner just a bit further until I was perfectly comfortable. As my eyelids started to droop I hoped B would have dreamless sleep. The worst part, even worse than the painful immediate memories, were the relentless nightmares, the ones that you couldn't wake up from unless someone else woke you or the ended. I'm assuming that what I hoped for happened, considering we slept until almost 9:00, almost 6 hours with no nightmares. When I was going through that, it was a blessing if I got 4 hours of sleep, so I was glad to see that I was doing something right- I think. I was up just a bit before B, so I went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. I was about half way done making French toast when I knew B was awake.

"Good morning, sunshine. You're off to a little late start, so it seems." I said jokingly. I could hear him slide off the couch as I put another piece of bread on the skillet.

"I've already made coffee, but the rest will take just a bit longer." He pulled the pot of coffee I made off the burner and searched for a mug. 'Don't take my favorite mug. Do not take my favorite mug.' I thought as I heard him go through the cabinets. When I turned around he was holding a giant mug that could probably be used as a cereal bowl. 'Godammit, why does that always happen? Now I have to use a normal one.' I finished the French toast and set it on the table, going back for powdered sugar and syrup. I sighed and pulled out my _normal_ mug and sat down across from him at the table. There was already plates and silverware on it, so I dug in, grabbing tree pieces and topping them off with powdered sugar. B just looked at me a bit, so I motioned for him to dig in. He forked a few onto his plate and doused them in syrup. We ate quietly for a while, well other than B downing his food, but every time I looked at him, he seemed to want to ask something but didn't have the guts.

"If you want to ask something, you can. I'm not going to claw your eyes out." I said. He thought about it before finally asking.

"What happened when you failed your mission?" He asked hesitantly. 'Hm, didn't think he was going to ask that.' I had only failed one mission in my entire life; I had learned my lesson after that- something I never forgot after all the times I was wiped.

I was assuming it didn't say what happened while I was on that mission, why I decided not to go through with it the first time, so I would start with that.

"In 1959, there was a small school, what's equal to an elementary school here, in Russia. It had 8 teachers and around 200 students. One teacher, the history teacher, was an ex-HYDRA agent that ran away on one of his missions a few years back. He had turned sides and was giving away HYDRA's information to the other teachers who would then anonymously give tips to the special forces. The teachers would never meet outside of school, that way if they were ever found out by HYDRA, they wouldn't be able to be killed all at once; they'd have time to run or figure out a plan. They thought no one would have the twisted mind to blow up the entire school; no matter how bad a person was. Of course that's where I came in. I was doing anything and everything HYDRA asked of me without question, so they put me on the job. It would be my first mission where I would murder children, but they thought I would do it with no problems." I said, stopping to try and keep under control. After a moment I continued.

"I sat out by the edge of a forest to watch them for a few days. HYDRA wanted me to know when the best to execute my plan was. I watched the children play and laugh at recess. I watched a friend be comforted by others when she came to school after he pet died. I watched them care for one another for two days, and when it came time to complete my task, I couldn't. I stood at the edge of the forest, hand on the detonator, but I couldn't press it. So I ran. I ran back to the only place I knew. And when they found out, I had high prices to pay. They taught me in four hours what happens when you defy HYDRA's demands. They beat within an inch of my life and put me in a small brick room with blinding lights hanging from the top." I remembered it well, the faces of my superiors, the steel table I was forced to lay on. "They strapped me to a cold, metal table in middle of the room, naked and battered. They had a drunk doctor come in and perform surgery, well moreover a live autopsy. Obviously I had no anesthetics, 'why give that to someone who could be revived later?', so they gave me just enough healing serum to keep me alive until they were trough." I didn't want to tell B what they did to me in extreme detail, it was pretty gruesome for breakfast time, not that the 'censored version' wasn't bad enough. I took a moment to make my decision on what to say and continued.

"Let's just say that they made their message loud and clear. The next day I went back to the school and locked all the doors from the outside. I stood looking at the main entrance, listened to the birds chirp, the children laugh, and blew it up." I looked down at my plate; I wasn't very hungry anymore. I sighed and grabbed my plate, placing it on the countertop and grabbing the tinfoil. I put the leftovers in the fridge and stood by the counter. We were quiet for a long time, but eventually B spoke.

"I'm sorry." He said softly.

I chuckled a bit. "For what? I was the one who did the deed."

"For bringing it up."

"B, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about all the things I've done. If I forget than I'm no better than the people who commanded me to do it. I remember so I know why I'm still here." I answered back. He didn't say anything, but nodded his head. I cleaned everything up considering we'd both lost our appetites and told him to get cleaned up before I went to do so myself. When I took off my sweatshirt I was still wearing from yesterday, I checked my cut. The initial wound was still there, but the bruise surrounding it was fading to a pale yellow. I laid out some clothes and took a shower, the warm water relaxing me. When I finally shut it off, the bathroom was clouded with steam. I put on a _Flash Gordon _tank-top, a cream blazer and dark skinny jeans before heading back to my bedroom. I scrunched my hair and put on my makeup before heading out to the living room. B was sitting on the couch in a dark-grey hoodie, whose left arm sleeve hung loose, and jeans that I took from the apartment in DC.

"Ready to go?" I asked, grabbing my clutch.

"To go where?"

"Shopping." I replied, smiling. I think I actually pale a bit in the face. He shook his head.

"Oh, come on. We're two of the world's greatest assassins and you're scared of _shopping._ Besides, even if you don't want to go, we're going. Plus you're getting your arm back before we leave, so I guess you have time to mentally prepare yourself for the torture ahead." I said with a laugh. We left to go downstairs where Tony should have B's arm ready to be attached. When we got down there, Tony looked like he was just finishing installing some sort of program on the arm.

"Hey Buns of Steel." I said, smirking as I entered his lab with B.

"It's not made of steel, kid." He said, typing something into his computer seeming to speed up the installation.

"And I'm almost 94. Whatcha got for us?" I asked, walking up to him. He slowly pulled his attention away from his computer.

"Well, the arm should be done within the next minute or two, so I'll explain what I've done to it first." He pulled up a screen of B's arm. "For starters I got rid of the star, it was a bit too communist for modern taste. Your arm also was a bit touchy, which was mainly why it was malfunctioning, so I made it considerably easier to operate. Along with that, you will be able to feel what you're holding a bit better; so you can make out the finer details. I didn't have to do anything with the metal of it, considering the alloy it's made of is almost as strong as Capcicle's shield." When he was done explaining, an alert came up on the screen.

"Well, I guess my timing was perfect." He said, walking over to the arm itself. He disconnected a few wires and handed it to B.

"If you ever want to take it on or off, there are finger-print scanners where it connects to your shoulder." He explained. B nodded and took off his hoodie before he attached it, the arm making a slight hissing noise as it latched on. B rolled his shoulder a bit and flexed it to try it out.

"Uh, thanks for fixing it for me." B awkwardly got out. We need to work on his people skills, too.

"Anytime, buddy." Tony replied, putting away the screen and wires. We said goodbye and went to the garage. The closer we got to my car the stiffer B got.

"Okay, it's in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, it'll be practically dead in there. And besides, it shouldn't take too long." I said, trying to calm him down. Seriously, he could stand in a museum full of people but couldn't go shopping? Kind of contradictory. He did seem to calm down a little bit, though, as we drove to the mall. I was right in my prediction, there were hardly any cars here, even for New York. We got front row parking and walked into the first store we saw.

"There are several popular styles for guys nowadays, but I think you could pull off the 50's greaser look pretty well." I said as we went through the store. He still looked a little clueless, so I went to find something for him. I came across some leather jackets and went with a large, hoping it was the right fit. I got plain white t-shirt to go with it and took him to a dressing room. It took a few moments before he slowly came back out. 'I need to go shopping more often.' I thought as he stood hesitantly in front of me. My mind was starting to go past the point of no return, but I couldn't help it; he looked _great_. I had always been a fan of the greaser look, but he made it look better than I've ever seen. My thoughts stumbled as I came back to the topic at hand.

"Yeah, you defiantly pull that off." I said with a smirk. He gave a small smile and went back in to put on his clothes. We went through the store and got a plethora of outfits- so many that the total came out to almost 400 dollars. I didn't even spend that much on _my _clothes, and women's clothes are always more expensive than men's. Of course, we did get seven pairs of jeans, five t-shirts, four plaid shirts, three different leather jackets and three pairs of Chucks. B looked pretty stunned with the load we stuffed into the car.

"Did I have a lot of clothes back then?" He asked as we pulled off.

"Pfft, hell no." I said laughing. "I don't think you owned more than three shirts, but then again we all were victims of the Depression and bad houses." I answered back.

"I, I think I can remember my closet. Even though it's fuzzy, I think you're right." He replied smiling.

"Yeah, I do think I remember you and Steve arguing about it. You'd always tell him he should eat more and grow a bit, to which he'd just tell you to shrink. I guess you guys wouldn't have to argue about it now." We talked all the way back to the tower, finally having a normal conversation. When we got back, I decided to bring him up to date in history. He knew about the major things because of his missions, but he didn't know about the progression of movies and music, so it was hard to be around Tony. I was the perfect person to go to for the movies, I am a major cinephile, but when it comes to music, I'm very biased. I'm pretty educated on my music history from the 40's and the mid-60's to the late-80's. And the later's just in rock. I went to my movie collection, or hoard if you want to be technical, and picked out 5 of the most 'outstanding' movies of the generations. My list eventually came out to _The Wizard of Oz _(I put it in with the 40's considering I wasn't doing the 30's and it was just too major)_, Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane, Bambi, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Seventh Seal, 12 Angry Men, Vertigo, Alice in Wonderland, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Strangelove, Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang, Alien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, A Clockwork Orange, Blazing Saddles, Star Wars: A New Hope, Back to the Future, E.T, Ghostbusters, The Shining, Blade Runner, The Silence of the Lambs, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption, _and_ Se7en. _I stopped there since that was a ton of movies and was going to take a while to watch, not that I was complaining. We could get to the others another time.

We watched _The Wizard of Oz _and _Casablanca _before going up to eat supper. When I got to the main floor, though, it was completely empty.

"Hey J, where is everybody?" I asked.

"Mr. Stark and Mr. Banner are in the lab, Mr. Odinson, Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanov are dining out." He replied in a smooth British accent.

"Did they forget that we were here?" I wondered out loud. 'Guess I'm making supper on my own.' I looked in the fridge and pantry to see what we had and decided on tacos.

"Could you tell Bruce and Tony I'm making tacos for me, J?"

"Of course, Ms. Andrews." I smiled and went over to grab a skillet and a few pounds of hamburger. I turned on the stove and grabbed out some spices when I had a great idea.

"Hey J, what's the hottest thing we have in the tower right now?" I asked with an evil grin.

"There is habanero extract on the top shelf of the pantry, Ms. Andrews." Perfect.

"Okay, thanks J." 'Alright, that's checked off the list, now just where to put it?'

"Hey B, do you know if you like taco sauce or not?" I asked him.

"No, why?"

"Just don't eat it." I said. My plan was flawless. Tony loved taco sauce, Bruce despised it and I could go without. I put the hamburger on the hot skillet and had B chop some vegetables. We listened to 50's music to catch B up on the history and only half an hour later the food was ready. I pulled out the taco sauce and extract and mixed them together in a 50-50 ratio. I could barely hold my excitement. I told J to send the guys up while I set the table. Bruce and Tony were up a few minutes later and we all grabbed a plate. Tony practically dumped the whole bottle of taco sauce onto his taco and I had to put on an extreme poker face. I piled up a few tacos for myself and B, since he still didn't really know what to do, and sat down. We started talking, B actually joining the conversation a bit, when Tony finally took a huge bite of his taco. My speech never faltered and I played it off perfectly; continuing to talk with Bruce as Tony's eyes grew wide and stopped chewing. He looked directly at me and I smiled a great 'Oh, yes, it was so me' smile at him. He quickly swallowed his bite and went to the fridge looking for the milk. His face was growing red and his eyes were starting to water. He grabbed the milk and started downing it straight from the gallon. Bruce looked at me confused but with a small smirk.

"The human body doesn't react well to capsaicin as demonstrated currently." I said. He must've gotten the hint because he let out a small laugh and turned around to watch the show unfold. Tony had the gallon half-way gone already and I had another idea pop into my head.

"Do you think he knows about the gallon challenge?" I ask Bruce.

"Should I know what that is?" He asked back. Oh yeah, Calcutta probably doesn't have the best wi-fi.

"The body can't handle a gallon of milk in under an hour, so people made a challenge out of it. And Tony is currently putting it to the test as well, only he's probably going to top it off in the next two minutes at this pace." I answered quietly. Bruce and B both just smiled wider and we all watched as Tony tried to rid the heat from his mouth. He had maybe an inch of milk left in the jug when he finally stopped an set it down. I just sat back and waited.

"Hey Tony, have you heard of the gallon challenge?" I asked smugly. His face dropped and he sprinted to the bathroom down the hall. I was full out laughing my ass off at this point but I could still hear him get sick from the bathroom. After a few minutes, I slowly sat up and wiped a few tears from my face. Tony finally came out of the bathroom and grumpily plopped down on his chair.

"This means war." He said bluntly.

"Bring it." Bruce and B just looked worried and somewhat scared. We silently ate our supper while Tony and I just glared at each other. We cleaned everything up and B and I went back our apartment floor and watched a few more movies before we fell asleep. I didn't quite pay attention as the movie played; I was too busy thinking about recent events. Everything was starting to be good again; Bucky was alive and sitting right across from me. It was hard to keep a smile off my face as I just sat back and relaxed. We both fell asleep half-way through _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ and slept without nightmares until morning.


	21. Chapter 21

**Welcome back;3**

**Here's another chapter for ya, mate**

**Oh, I was wondering about how you guys would feel if I did another fanfiction when I finish this one….. It would be great if you left ideas or requests in the review section that way I can start writing it now:)**

**Other than that HOLY SHIT, DID YOU GUYS SEE THE AVENGERS 2 TRAILER?! I'M SO PUMPED FOR THE MOVIE**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Marvel. I don't even own a Marvel stock. (Do they have stocks?)**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

When I woke up the next day, it was because of two huge tarantulas crawling on my arm and my neck. Obviously I was a bit stunned, but I didn't freak out over it. I simply pulled the spiders from me and set them under a box. How did he even get two tarantulas that fast? Sighing, I sat up and went to wake B up. I walked over to the couch and went to shake his shoulder, but since I was in the middle of a prank war, why not have some people join? Instead I went to my room and found my iPod and speaker. Using everything I knew about being stealthy, I went back into the living room and looked in the small cabinet I had for spare items I didn't want to throw out. I was in luck; I still had my glitter party-poppers from the New-Years party Tony threw. I grabbed two and went behind the couch, connecting my iPod to the speaker.

'Let's see, where is it?' I asked myself as I searched in my playlist. 'I, j, k, k Ah, here it is…' I turned the speaker on full blast and clicked on the infamous Kelis song, putting the iPod down quickly and grabbing both poppers in one hand. I heard the base drop and the lyrics began, almost blowing my eardrums.

_My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard_

_And they're like 'It's better than yours'_

I watched B flop off the couch from shock and land ungracefully on his side. I laughed loudly, which was easily drowned out by the music, and emptied both poppers onto him. I was singing and dancing while laughing my ass off at his very surprised expression. He just stared at me for a good minute before finally snapping out of it and walking aver to the speaker to shut it off.

"Aww, come on do, don't be a party pooper." I get out between laughs. He gives me a very unamused look and walked into the spare bedroom (currently his room that he never seems to use) to get ready. I smiled and went to my room and decided to put on gym clothes, considering B and I have generally just been watching movies for the past couple of days. I tied my hair back and put on a pair of longer spandex, ending right above my knee, a sports bra and a dry-fit tank top. I put on my tennis shoes and grabbed my iPod and headphones. B walked out of his room confusedly looked at me as I filled up a water bottle.

"I'm gonna go down to the gym for a bit if you would like to accompany me." I said, topping the bottle off.

"I don't have any gym clothes." 'Dammit, I knew I forgot something.'

"Uh, give me a sec. Did you usually wear a wife beater under your suit and do you have it with you?" I asked, going back to my room for shorts.

"Yes and yes." He replied. Okay, just basketball shorts then. I pulled out a pair of huge blue basketball shorts I used for lounging and went back to the living room.

"Here, these are huge on me so they should fit perfectly on you." I joked a bit. I went back to the kitchen and got another water bottle out and filled it for B. He was back out in another minute and put on a pair of tennis shoe before we left for the gym. Normally the gym was empty except for a few special occasions like when Nat and Clint were here- oh, wait. When we got in they were both at the boxing ring sparing, which, from the looks of it, Nat was winning. Within a few seconds Nat had him trapped on the mat and didn't even break a sweat.

"_I have a feeling that that's not the only place you pin him down." _I say in Russian. B's cheecks went red –wow, he may end up being worse than Steve, especially if he can understand my Russian- and Nat gave me a look that could kill anyone else.

"Oh, come on, don't give me that look. It's not like I'm wrong, or are you just not denying it?" I asked smirking. I can see her glare weaken into a more defeated look. "I won't tell anyone else, if you're worried about that." She nodded and I went to the pull-up bar, B following behind me.

"Most of the stuff in here isn't technology dependent with the exception of the treadmills. I don't use them because they can't keep up with my speed, but if you want to use them I can show you how." I said, plugging my headphones into my iPod.

"No, I'll just run with you. The serum they gave me enhances my speed too."

"Alright, well if you want to listen to music just ask JARVIS. If you can't think of anything to listen to, try Metallica or any type of heavy metal for that matter." I said, putting the one of the headphones in my ear. I jumped up to the bar and started my workout but less than a second later B jumped up to the bar only a little more than a foot away. He smirked at me and started doing pull-ups with one arm, his bionic one of course, a few times faster than me too. 'Oh, so that's how it's going to be?' I smirked back and swung both legs up to the bar, hanging myself upside down on it. I winded my bionic leg's foot around the pole and supported myself with the other. I drew my hands up in a fighting position, smirked, and punched him in the stomach a few times, making him drop to the floor.

"Do you really wanna play this game? Cause I could go all day." I said laughing. He smiled back at me.

"You know, you seem to forget that I was the Winter Soldier." He said confidently.

"Is that implying that you could beat me? I think I could have you down in less than five minutes. And, technically, I was your predecessor." I was getting pretty cocky about it, I know, but just friendly competition.

"Are you challenging me?" He asked, faking shock. I bent back up and grabbed the bar, letting my feet come lose before dropping back down to the mat. I looked over at the mat; Clint and Nat had left for the shooting range.

"Yes, yes I am."

A few minutes later we were both on the might in our separate corners. I could tell that B was starting to get a bit nervous, though.

"What if I go into Soldier mode?"

"Well, I don't think it'll get to there, but if it does I can handle myself and I can't really die anyways, so don't worry about it. And if you do, I won't be mad at you for it, I went through the same thing." I said, wrapping my hands.

"Hey J, could you play _We're Not Gonna Take It_? Oh, and time this fight please." I asked.

"Of course, Ms. Andrews." 'Oh, this is going to be _so good.' _The music started playing and we both got into a fighting stance.

_We're not gonna take it!_

_No, we ain't gonna take it!_

_We're not gonna take it anymore!_

He started walking towards me, looking ready for whatever came at him. I ran at him, jumping high with my bionic leg right before he could land a hit. I was sent above his head and grabbed his outreached arm halfway through the jump. When I landed I had his arm behind him and pulled hard on it, flipping him onto his back with a loud thud. I went to let go of his arm, but he grabbed it quickly and slammed me down on the mat beside him. He got on top of me and pinned both arms above me, smirking when he thought he had me trapped.

"I hope you wore a cup!" I said quickly before kneeing him. He wasn't. I did feel quite guilty about that shot, it was below the belt literally and metaphorically, but this was a fight. He let go, both of his hands occupied for _obvious reasons_, and was now just on his knees. I got up and walked a few feet away; giving him another chance, considering that was a pretty low-blow. After a second he got back up and got back into a fighting stance. He walked towards me again and I did the same. He went for another punch, but I ducked and grabbed his fist, punching him back in the chest.

"You're holding back and paying for it. Don't worry about if you go into Soldier mode, I'll be fine." I said. He pulled his fist out of my grip and swung back at my side. As I moved out of the way he finally got a hit on me as he used his other hand to punch my shoulder. I smiled, getting a good fight now, and went at him full force. We went at it for a good five minute, fighting relentlessly. I knew I would have several black spots on my arms and ribs in the morning, but that doesn't mean he didn't get his share as well. He'd also have the added bonus of scratches all down his arm. I eventually got him on his back with a powerful uppercut and held him down with one of my claws against his throat. We we're both covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

"Do you give?" I asked with a small grin. He smiled back exhaustedly and nodded. I got back up and stood over him.

"Need help up, old man?" I asked jokingly as he laid there.

"You're supposed to respect your elderly." He replied.

"Well I _am_ elderly and you're really only a few years older than me. I'm just kinda stuck at 21 until further notice." I said walking over to my corner and unwrapping my hands. "What was the time J?"

"6 minutes 27 seconds Ms. Andrews."

"That wasn't less than five minutes." B said.

"Hey smart-ass, that was because I felt bad about squishing your junk and gave you a minute so you could actually stand." I replied with a smirk. His face dropped a bit.

"That was cheating." He said bluntly.

"Hey, I was just using my resources." I said laughing. We went back to working out after the spar and spent another hour and a half in the gym before taking a shower and leaving. While heading back to the apartment I was thinking about the tarantulas and had a brilliant idea. I practically squealed in excitement and ran into my room as soon as I opened the door. I grabbed my laptop and brought it out, setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"What was that all about?" B asked, sitting beside me on the couch.

"Well, this morning I was awaken by two huge tarantulas, actually they're still under that box." I said, pointing to it. I should probably take care of those soon. "I'm assuming that was Tony's move for the hot taco yesterday, so I was thinking about how to get back at him." I said, opening the laptop and going to Youtube.

"Unfortunately for him, Tony taught me everything he knew about hacking into computers about a year ago, and I am a pure genius." I said, searching for a video.

"Hey JARVIS, where is Tony at right now?" I asked. I had a fairly good idea, but just wanted to make sure.

"He is currently asleep in his lab, Ms. Andrews." He replied smoothly. I knew Tony usually stayed up all night in his lab and crashed around this time of the day.

"Is anyone else in there, like Bruce?"

"He is alone in the lab, Ms. Andrews." 'I should really change how he calls me when I do this.'

"Ok, J, thanks." B was still looking confused so I explained it to him.

"There's a horror game that just skyrocketed into popularity recently, Five Nights at Freddy's. Basically it's about these demented animatronics that can walk around at night and kill you. Your role as the night watchmen is kinda helpless, and you're stuck there. And, in the elevator ride here, I realized that I could hack into Tony's suits and make Five Nights at Freddy's a living hell for him." I said, looking for a walkthrough of the game. I was going to download the noises and vocals; give him the full deal. Once I got all that done, I was ready to begin. 'Sorry about this J.' I tought as I hacked into his systems. I shut him down to an extent, basically just making it so I could control him, but he'd do all his normal functions- except alert Tony to what I was doing, of course. I had a camera reel projected onto the TV so I could watch and slowly dimmed the lights in the lab, trying not to wake him up. The camera also shot in nightvision, so I could tell what was happening.

Tony had several rooms to his lab, actually. The first one you walked into was his main lab, obviously, but there were several side rooms like a genetics room, a metal shop room and a room with his suits; all interconnected. There were four of his suits in the shop currently, so I quietly booted them up and downloaded all the correct sounds and movements. Once I had them all ready, I had one of the screens in his shop connect with all the rooms' camera feeds. After I had everything set up, I called the phone. Tony was without a doubt surprised to see he was in the dark, but answered the call anyways with a tired and somewhat shaky "Hello?"

I let silence play on the phone, waiting until he was about to hang-up. A moment later I played the sound that the animatronics make when they catch you at an ear-drum breaking volume. He screamed a bit and threw the phone in shock. I was already laughing my ass off, but continued on. I made mark 44 start walking to the next room. Once he was there, I let Tony have the camera feeds, one room at a time. All the other suits were in their room, but mark 44, let's call him Chica, was laying in a heap on the genetics lab floor, the eyes glowing white. I could tell Tony was starting to panic due to his cries for help from JARVIS and his phone calls; both of which were useless. I kept moving the suits to each room, some of them I lifted their facemasks for added emphasis. We did this for a good half hour before I had mark 42, Foxy in this case, close in on Tony- who was curled up in a ball at this point. I crept it closer and closer, Tony not seeing it in the dark, and when it was only a few feet away I had the eyes glow white and screech before coming apart and capturing him inside the suit. I shut the suit off from where I was at and turned everything else on, including JARVIS's normal functions. B and I booked it to the lab bringing my laptop with us. On the way down I turned JARVIS back on, but it would take a minute, just long enough to get to where Tony was at. When we got there we rushed to the suit currently on the floor and waited for JARVIS to be running fully. After a moment the suit hissed open to reveal a very, _very_ scared Tony.

"I'll call that one the 'Fat Man'." I said in reference to our prank 'war'. His face of fear slowly turned into a scowl worse than Natasha's- and actually unnerved me to an extent, not quite scaring me.

"You're going to pay for this." He said in the most serious tone I've ever heard from him.

"Then you're really gonna have to up the ante." I said, a daring grin on my face despite the situation. With that, I left the lab and headed back to the apartment.

"I think he meant what he said." B said in the elevator ride up.

"Oh, I don't doubt it; I'd just like to see him try." I say, self-satisfied. This might end up going a little too far, but I really didn't care; it was going to be fun either way.

When B and I got back, we decided to teach him a bit more about history and technology, so I taught him like I did Steve. Although Steve was much worse at learning about the technology. B had the internet down in about 10 minutes, so we went from there. I started with the Vietnam War and worked my way up. I got to about the break-up of the Soviet Union when it started getting dark. We watched another movie, _Alien, _before going to bed around 11:00. I knew B was going to have nightmares, it was inevitable, so I kept my leg on and slept lightly. The muffled screams began around 2:47 and they woke me up quickly. I rushed over to his rooms and tried to wake him up; nothing. I shook him harder, but he still thrashed around. I sighed, realizing that he'd just have to endure it until it was over. I hated dreams like these, ones you were stuck in, victim to the unrelenting terror in front of you. Since it was only going to last about five minutes, I went to the kitchen for a glass of water when he woke up. I set in beside him and stood at the edge of his bed, grabbing his hand and holding it. Fortunately it seemed to calm him down and a few minutes later he woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up and I let go of his hand to grab the water. He downed it in, seemingly, in one huge gulp and set it back on the nightstand.

"What was it?" I asked, sitting down at the end of the bed.

"I don't know; I was in a hospital bed, and I felt terrible- like something had been taken away from me, but not physically. I remembered falling from the train again, but I- I don't think I fell, I think I let go. And I don't know why. The feeling I had for whatever it was I lost was gut-wrenching, close to the worst pain I've felt in my life." I was surprised to hear that he let go from the train. I didn't know why he would either. I thought back to why he'd be in the hospital bed before that, but it was after I went missi- oh. My face dropped in realization. He had committed suicide after I went missing. I let out a huff of air and was lost in thought.

"I told you not to let go." I whispered so quietly that I could barely hear it. B did notice that I had realized something and asked,

"Do you know what it was?"

I started to feel my eyes stinging from unshed tears. I felt guilty, if I hadn't died- if I just pushed a little harder- he wouldn't have killed himself- he wouldn't have had to go through HYDRA's hell. I had to leave before I broke down.

"I-I'm sorry for what I did to you…" I hardly got out before bolting back for my room. I locked the door behind me and sat on the bed, streams of tears silently falling from my face. I hugged my knees to my chest and sat, trying desperately not to think; to block it out. I could hear B knocking at the door, asking something, but I couldn't hear him- I didn't want to hear him.

I had put him through what I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Because of me.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hey! I'm back:) So this chapter took a bit longer to write because of a few thing…. Mainly because my dad just had serious back surgery for a ruptured disk and can hardly move on his own, so that mean helping him out a lot seeing as my sister moved out a few months ago. I am also writing 2 research papers this week and I started my first chapter for my next fanfiction. If you guys want more information on that you can ask me all the questions you want, which I ****_will_**** answer, in the review section. I will also take comments or suggestions ****gladly, ****so please leave them too…**

**Other than that, here's chapter 22;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, I promise you. I only own my OC Claire.**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

I stayed sitting on the bed, silent tears falling from my face, until morning. Over the last 70 deaths I had learned to deal with long periods of nothing. I looked over at the clock when the sunlight finally seemed to peak through my window; 6:07 a.m. Deciding it was a normal time to get up, I got dressed in a t-shirt and sweats with my mangled suit underneath- really need to get a new one of those- before heading to the door. I didn't hear B outside and concluded that he went back to bed sometime during the night. I slowly opened the door and crept out, just wanting to get to the kitchen and leave. I snuck over to it, just about to reach the door when I heard him talk.

"What happened last night?" He asked, his voice a hybrid of confusion and demand.

'Don't be such a pussy and tell him. He deserves to know. It's not like it he caused this.' I sighed and stood straight, but not facing him.

"I never lied to you, but I didn't tell you the whole truth." I said, my hands shaking unnoticeably.

"About what?" B asked after a moment.

I turned back around to face him. I couldn't tell if he was angry or curious. Maybe a mix between the two, but overall he looked confused.

"You were a close friend to me, but you became more than that. In 1941 we were captured and rescued from a HYDRA base. The night we got back to our own camp, you asked me out. Over the next 8 months we slowly fell in love. We never had much time together, but when we did it always seemed too short. Then HYDRA came, and like they always do, fucked everything up. We all went on a mission that we had planned for about a month to destroy a large HYDRA facility, but when we got there it looked deserted. I had told them not to go in there, that something was wrong, but we were in a 'now or never' situation. We were ambushed, and since I was one of the main muscles of the group along with Steve I was the one trying to get people out. After being shot in my shoulder and leg I had almost everyone out, but Jaques and Jones were still in there, on the top floor. You had gone back in to look for me, but I had just carried Steve out. When I went back in and got to their floor you were all outnumbered. I tried to take them all down as quick as I could, but you were shot, I wouldn't be surprised if you have a mystery scar on your stomach from where you were hit." When he heard that something in his eyes told me I was right.

"When I had gotten you out, there were HYDRA forces closing in quickly and our troops weren't going to be there in time. I ran after them, knowing that Zola would want his experiment back for either more tests or revenge and go after me. He sent soldiers after me, to bring me back any way they could. I was losing blood and was slowing down when they clipped my ankle. I went down, and I knew I was going to die, but after I did they took my body back to their base. Eventually they found out that my body was healing itself, even after dying, so they wiped my memory- which in turn restarted my heart from the shock- and sent me on a mission. I was actually sent to spy on you and Steve, but I ended up having a skull crushing headache, like the one you had after reading my file. When I was there, though, I noticed something that I failed to understand then; your eyes were red and puffy. When you told me last night what happened, I couldn't take it. If I had just tried a bit harder I could've saved you from this life. If I had just pushed further we wouldn't have to be stuck with what we were dealt. I should've done something different, but you had to pay the price. Maybe if I had lived we wouldn't be out of our time, wouldn't be haunted by our past. Maybe I could've saved Steve. But I didn't, and I'm sorry." I ended softly. I quickly wiped away a tear and tried to stand high, but nothing seemed to work.

"No." B said after I finished.

"No what?" I asked confused.

"I did this to myself, I was the one who let go, not you."

"Then tell me why you let go." I said in disagreement. He didn't say anything, just stood there with an apologetic look. "I'm just gonna go out for a bit, I'll be back later." I said, leaving quickly. I got outside and, surprisingly for New York, it wasn't very busy. I walked down to the place I usually run, an older path that no one used anymore- actually I had to jump a fence to get in, but I'm sure nobody cares. It was an old concrete loop that was starting to be broken by weeds, but I loved it simply for its exclusion. I looked around to make sure I was alone before starting to jog into a full-on sprint. When I was running at full speed I could beat Steve easily. I hated running in my human form, actually, but it was a great way to relieve a bit of stress and make my mind focus on something else. I ran for about an hour like that before taking off my clothes in exchange for my old suit underneath. I morphed slowly from head to toe, giving my leg a bit of a head start, before continuing as fast as I could. I could hear the pads of my feet thump quickly against the ground and focused on only that. I ran for a long time and was about to stop out of exhaustion when I saw a figure by the entrance. I leaped and morphed back mid-air, landing in a defensive stance.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, my voice sounding threatening. The figure stepped out and I could see it was just B. I let out a sigh of relief and walked to get my clothes.

"How long have you been here?" I shouted across the path.

"I followed you out." B answered. 'And I didn't notice? I gotta practice more.' I put my clothes back on top of my suit and walked back over to him. "Why?"

"Because you're blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

"I thought we had this conversation about two and a half hours ago." I said, about a foot away from him. B somewhat ignored what I said and went on.

"You're blaming yourself for my thoughts and actions. If I loved you as much as I did you can't blame yourself for that." He said, grabbing my shoulders gently. "I did it, not you." I looked down but nodded my head. We headed back to the tower, not saying anything on the way. I still felt a bit guilty about what happened to him, but he made a good point. I guess I'd always feel a little guilty, just like Steve does about me and B's death- although, he might feel less guilty about how B died, it really wasn't his fault. When we got back to the tower it was around 10:00, so I decided to clean up a bit and figure out something to do. I showered and changed into a plaid tank-top, since my cut was healed, denim shorts and my red Chucks before heading out. I didn't really wasn't to go to a museum or something like that, so I decided we'd just walk around for a bit, at least until lunch. I figured my identity still wasn't able to be thrown around yet, so I grabbed cash and went into the living room.

"We need to do something fun." I said to B, who was on the couch.

"What goes for fun now?" I smirked.

"Do you recall theme parks?" His face dropped a bit.

"That's too bad cause we're goin'. And we're taking others."

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><p>"Coney Island? Really?" Clint said to my offer.<p>

"Don't be such a negative Nancy, Clinton. We are going to Coney Island and we are going to enjoy it." I said firmly. Clint, Nat, Thor, B and I were all in the room and no one seemed to disagree with me after that. I went down to the lab to gather up Tony and Bruce before finding Pepper. Bruce, Tony and I all got in the elevator and I thought back to the prank I had pulled yesterday.

"So, have you thought of anything that can top my prank, Tony? Cause I can't even think of anything." I said cockily. He just seemed to grumble something incoherent and I felt accomplishment. Bruce seemed to find it funny because out of the corner of my eye I saw him smile a bit. I then realized something I should've thought about a second ago.

"Bruce, will you be alright on a rollercoaster?" I asked.

"Yeah, I made a serum that should keep my heart rate at a constant speed for about an hour." He said enthusiastically.

"Wait, does that mean you have full control now?" I asked. He smiled a bit and answered.

"Yeah, it does. I wasn't going to tell everyone else till later, but now seems as good of a time as any." He said happily.

"Well, congrats, then. That's awesome." I replied gladly. The elevator doors dinged open on Pepper's office floor and I looked out at her sitting at her desk.

"You're being temporarily fired." I said when she looked up.

"Hey, I was gonna say that." Tony whined.

"Great minds think alike, I guess. I'm just quicker." I said in response. He just pouted more and looked defeated. I resumed back to Pepper, who looked pretty confused.

"Are you doing anything major today?" I asked.

"I guess not, seeing as I was just fired." She said with smile.

"Well, since you have a free schedule for the next 10 hours, you're gonna spend some of that time with us at Coney Island." I explained to her. She agreed, of course, and went to her floor to change into more casual clothes. I headed back down to my apartment to grab my keys, and when I was back on the living room floor everyone was ready to go and now seemed happy to go, even B was starting to talk to the others freely. I smiled as everything seemed to be good or at least much better again, and we all headed down to the garage level. All the assassins were going in my car, so Nat, Clint, B and I, and everyone else were going with Pepper, because no one trusted Tony's driving. I was playfully arguing with Clint on the subject of throwing knives vs. bow and arrow- you can probably pick which side I was on, and I was winning- as I walked towards my car. I was getting out my keys from my pocket, when I heard a few clicks; muffled, but still there. I stopped moving and bowed my head a bit, trying to hone in on it, when I realized what was happening. My head shot up, eyes wide and managed to shout "Get down!" before my car exploded in a mix of flame and shrapnel. We were all sent to the ground, and the last thing I saw was several soldiers coming at us with guns.


	23. Chapter 23

**Guys, I think we're near the end….**

**BUT DON'T BE SAD**

**I think it's been a really good time, I think. I really hoped you guys liked what I did with my thoughts and don't hate me for it:) I am writing another fanfiction after this one, Home, and will be posting the first chapter soon afterwards. If you want to know any more about it, leave questions in the review section, I will answer them in the author's note. If you have any suggestions on what I should do in it, what I should change or keep the same, ****_pleeeasssee _****leave them. They will help ****immensely.**

**Other than that, I give you chapter 23.**

**Disclaimer: Marvel doesn't even own all of Marvel. But at least they have the Avengers;3**

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><p>Secret HYDRA Base, New York<p>

Claire/12's P.O.V

'Ahh, everything hurts…' I thought groggily as I woke up. I knew three things as my last memories came back to me; 1. I'm blindfolded. 2. I'm strapped to a chair by steel cuffs. 3. My situation could be okay as long as these guys are as stupid as I think they are. I heard steps approaching me and I could almost feel this guys evil smile he probably had plastered on his face. He stopped maybe a foot in front of me and I felt a hard slap hit across my left cheek.

"That was only a small taste of what you'll be getting for your crimes. It angered us when you left for the enemy, but when you helped take down the whole system, that pushed us over the edge." German accent, probably ripped, definitely egotistical.

"Could you just skip the monolouging and get to the 'you will regret the day you were born' part of your speech." I said with a bored expression. My blindfold was ripped off my face and I saw the pissed face of my captor. 'Oh, yeah, if he just ripped that thing off then the rest of these guys are _definitely _dumbasses.' I thought. He gripped the bottom of my jaw tightly and pulled my head towards him.

"Why don't you keep those pretty lips of yours sealed before I saw them shut." He said, trying to be intimidating. I smiled in just the way that would burn him.

"I guess I'll just have to use hand gestures for now." I replied. He looked down at my hands, where they were both flipping him off. His face dropped even more and grabbed both of my middle fingers, effectively breaking and dislocating them. I gritted my teeth, trying not to give him the pleasure of my pain, but damn, it was difficult.

"I guess we'll have to do this a different way. Keep your mouth shut, or you're friends will get your punishment." He said, walking out the door. Before he left he told his three guards to make sure I don't do anything suspicious and swiftly left. The guards nodded, gave a quick 'Hail HYDRA!' and pointed their guns at me. I scoffed inwardly and sat back, waiting for my window of opportunity. I didn't have to wait long, as the guards started talking.

"_She's a pretty little thing. Too bad she is what she is." _One of them spoke in German, thinking I couldn't understand him. 'Do their commanders tell them nothing about their targets anymore?'

"_Like you could have her. You know I'd be the one in her bed." _Another spoke back. The topic of their conversation didn't bother me, I had encountered several people who did the same, and I was honestly trying not to laugh at their stupidity.

"_Why not just have a little fun with her now?"_ The third guard said, walking towards me. 'Okay, the window is now open, I just have to deal with whatever happens before I can make a move.' The guard smiled, and holstered his gun. He got way to close to me for my preference, and grabbed me by the back of the head, pulling me forward and kissing me roughly. I played the game and squirmed, trying to get out of his embrace, or at least making him think that. I had done this routine with several targets when I worked for HYDRA, and was just glad for my escape route. I remembered that I could make one part of my body morph if I focused on it, so I focused on my right hand, thinking I could break the restraint and grab the guard's gun. My plan worked perfectly; the size of my wrist broke the mold with ease, and I took the pistol from its holster, shooting the two guards watching before they even knew what was going on. The guard stopped kissing me, reaching for his gun that was in my hand. His face turned into one of panic and I smiled sweetly before killing him. I dropped the gun, gently holding my hand. I bit my lip and closed my eyes tightly before setting it back in place. I teared up, but still had to do the other hand before I could do anything. I didn't think twice about it, and set it before wiping tears away and leaving the room. My fingers were still broken, but I could at least use them if it came to that. When I walked out of the room, I was in a hallway, two elevators at the end, two doors to my left and three to my right- all with glass panels to see into them. 'I have to buy a lottery ticket when I'm done here.'

I looked in the first door on my left and saw prisoner cells, all empty though. The other door held the same thing, so I checked the last door on my right and almost cried tears of joy- it was the weapons room, and there was only two guards watching it. I used all the strength I could muster and broke the doorknob off quickly before going in and attacking the people inside. The first one I took down with a kick to the chest, using my bionic leg, of course, which probably shattered his ribs easily. The other got a few shots off at me, grazing my left arm, but I snapped his neck before he did any real damage.

I was a kid in a toy store.

A table full of knives, a wall covered in guns, and grenades galore. I, true to my preference, grabbed as many knives I could handle, totaling up to ten. I also grabbed two 9 millimeter pistols, just in case, before leaving for the other rooms. When I looked in the middle room Tony, Bruce, and Thor were strapped down and blindfolded; Thor and Bruce were unconscious. There was three guards assigned to that room as well, and since I knew the glass was only clear through the outside, I simply knocked on the door. One of the guards came and opened the door, not even looking to see who it was and closing the door behind him.

"You guys just make it too easy." I said before slicing his throat. I pulled out another knife before kicking in the door. Quickly taking care of the remaining guards, I pulled off Tony's blindfold first.

"You good?" I asked him. He seemed a bit slow but nodded his head. I went over and checked the dead guard for the keys to the chair restraints, finding them in his pocket. I unlocked Tony and gave him the keys and one of my guns.

"Take care of these guys; I'm gonna go find the others. If you need them, there's a weapons room to your right when you leave." I said to him. He shook his head to wake up a bit more and nodded when my message got to him. I left and went to the last room in the hallway. It had the same set up, three guards, three prisoners, but no B. I was worried about what they were doing to him, but had to focus on the current situation. I was most worried about Pepper; I knew she wasn't weak- far from it actually- but she was very close to me when the bomb went off, and that was a very painful experience. I decided not to waste my time with the knives and pulled out my gun instead. I easily killed the guards with three headshots and grabbed the restraint keys. Pepper was still asleep from the blast, but Nat and Clint were both wide awake and very alert. I took both of their blindfolds off and chuckled a bit.

"You know, there's two of you here- both master assassins- and you still had your blindfolds on." I said with a 'tsk' at the end. They gave me un-amused looks and I took off their restraints. I went over and checked Pepper; her left leg was broken, unfortunately on her femur, and her right shoulder was dislocated. The good thing was she only had minor cuts and bruises, but she'd be in a load of pain when she woke up. I sighed and undid her restraints, picking her up and carrying her bridal style to Clint. He grabbed her from me and I walked to the door.

"I'm going to go find B. If you can, find some healing serum; she'll be in a lot of pain when she wakes up. There are weapons at the end of the hallway." I said to them. They nodded their head and I left for the elevator. If I remembered HYDRA as well as I did, all their 'special' stuff was deeper down. There were only 5 floors in this building, so I went to the fifth one. 'Yeah, quality stuff they got here- the elevator doesn't even play music.' I thought with a chuckle. I reloaded my pistol and put it back, opting for two more throwing knives. When I was on the third floor, I started hearing screams, B's screams. I was infuriated when I figured out what they were doing to him. They were making him their weapon again. I gripped my knives tight, my knuckles going white, and wished that the elevator would just go a bit faster. It felt like an eternity, especially with the screams in the background, but I finally got on the final floor. The doors opened and I let out a monstrous snarl, alerting the soldiers and scientists in the room. There were many more people in the room than I expected, so I threw my first two knives, both hitting their marks perfectly- the eye sockets- and decided to morph. I broke the skull of my first target and crushed the neck of my second. I mauled the other 4 guards easily, the scientists were scared shitless in the corner, and there was one more- the man who broke my fingers. I pounced on him, breaking his back and paralyzing him, rendering him useless. You can't just break my fingers, kidnap my friends and brainwash the man I love. I was going to let him die a slow and scary death, so I slit his wrists- just enough for his blood to drain out in maybe an hour, give or take. As for the scientists I killed them in a fury- they knew what they were doing, they weren't innocent. B was unconscious in the chair, and I was about to morph back when alarms started going off in my head. I wasn't wearing my suit. I would be naked. Of course. Well, he'd be unconscious anyways. I morphed back and went up to the controls, searching for something to release him. Although, when I was trying to just hit random buttons, I found the screen that only said one thing;

'Asset Memories'

I don't like talking about myself, but I'd say I'm smart. Hopefully. I looked over to B, who was still passed out, and weighed the possibilities. It could be a few things- either the memories he just had, or the memories he had and the ones he still didn't remember. I knew this would cause him pain, and I knew what it would feel like, but I pressed 'enter' and morphed back before he woke up from the pain. His body jolted up, and his eyes widened once more before the screaming resumed. I'd do anything to be able to make the pain go away, but this needed to happen. Again, what felt like years was only minutes, and as the screams faded, his eyes closed. I morphed, went over to the control panel and pressed buttons until the machine whirred off of him. I walked behind the chair so he couldn't see me and went back so I could call his name.

"Bucky." I said forwardly. I heard him take in a breath. His head started turning to the sound of my voice but I stopped him.

"Wait! Don't look, I'm right behind you but I'm….. naked. Do you remember anything, do you know who you are and who I am?" I asked him.

"I remember, Claire." He said slowly. He got up from the chair, but didn't turn around.

"How far back, though?"

"We chased the Commandos while I rode on your back." I stilled. I tried not to break down, but the information I just got definitely shook me.

"Could you just, uh, close your eyes?" I asked softly. As soon as he did I hugged him as hard as I could, making sure he never left. My tears were probably making his shirt wet, but at this point I couldn't care less- beside, I could feel a few of his falling on my back. I looked up to make sure he was still closing his eyes and kissed him. It had been 70 years since my last kiss, well my last _real_ kiss with what HYDRA had me do, and it was amazing to finally have him again. He returned it with just as much force. After a minute we broke the kiss and I spoke.

"I ban you from trains. Forever." I said, voice muffled by his chest. He gave a deep laugh, pulling me closer.

"I would love to continue this, but unfortunately I'm still naked." He laughed again.

"It may be unfortunate for you…" He replied. I lightheartedly scoffed and punched him in the shoulder.

"Yup, your personality is up and running." I said, morphing back and trotting to the exit. This place still had stairs, so I just went up those and Bucky followed behind. I got to the third floor and saw something in the door window; a map. Specifically a map with several red and black dots on it. I nudged Bucky on the shoulder and gestured to it. He smirked and opened the door, me barely fitting in. I went over to look at it and counted over 20 red dots and there were at least more than 100 black dots. Bucky looked at me strangely.

"These could be HYDRA bases- but how are there that many left?" The possibility infuriated me, but what was worse was the chance that the black dots could be the ones left instead of the red. I scowled and Bucky took the map from the wall. We headed back up and out, meeting up with the rest of the group. Nat must've found the healing serum, because Pepper wasn't acting like she was in the amount of pain she would've been in. Tony still had his censors from his mark 42 suit, and reactivated the trackers in them. It only took maybe 10 minutes for his suit to get here, and he called in for three others to be flown to our location. He flew Pepper home, Thor flew himself, and Bruce, Nat and Clint all rode in suits. Bucky would've been too big to fit in one of Tony's suits, so he had to travel by way of wolf, and I was stuck running behind the suits as they flew in front of me. It took around 15 minutes for me to get back to the tower- the suits flew much faster than I could run. I snuck through the city as best I could, eventually getting to the back entrance of the tower. There were a few secretaries that were thoroughly surprised when a giant wolf trotted through the room to the staircase with a man on its back, but probably resumed working when they remembered who they worked for. Bucky got off at the stairwell and opted to ride the 65 floors up on the elevator. With my size, I beat him to the top with a few seconds to spare. I entered my apartment with a squeeze through the door and changed into new clothes as quickly as I could. I came out in a t-shirt and jeans and ran to Bucky, who just came to the door. I practically tackled him in a hug again.

"I missed you so much. Do _not_ ever leave me again. If you do, you better be praying to god I don't find you." He chuckled into my hair.

"If I ever leave, it'll be because I'm dead." He replied.

"Well, wait until after I'm dead."

"You can't die." He said confused. I laughed.

"Exactly." He smiled down at me and we rode our way up to the others. I pulled out my phone and quickly texted Steve without Bucky seeing the phone. I smiled to myself as I thought of the perfect message.

'Mission accomplished.'


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys, I think this will end up being the second to last chapter… I still can't believe the story I decided to write out of the blue, and not expecting it to exceed more than 2 chapters, came out to this. It's been awesome writing this and I hoped you guys liked it:) Also, this was the first time I've ever written 'm rated content', so if you want to leave a review and tell me how I did, that would be great. **

**Now, I have some questions that would really need answers from you guys.**

**_IMPORTANT:_**

**I'm currently making a second fanfiction, and although it's looking like it will be categorized under the Avengers section, it will be taking place after CA 2. I didn't know if you would want it to be in the same universe as Hidden Secrets, though. If that's what you want, it'd be set up as a Cap/OC and a Claire/Bucky story, but I probably won't do a P.O.V as anyone other than the OC of that story, unless it really calls for it. If it wasn't in the same 'universe' as Hidden Secrets then it could either be a Cap/Oc or a Bucky/OC, so that leaves the voting options:**

**1. ****Takes place in the Hidden Secrets universe as a Cap/OC ff.**

**2. ****Doesn't take place Hidden Secrets universe. If 2, *please leave whether you'd want it to be a Cap/OC fic or a Bucky/OC fic*. **

**Please leave your vote as 1 or 2* in the comment section and thank you for the votes, it really ****_really_**** helps me out. **

**Disclaimer: I own Marvel. I own the universe. You are irrelevant. And happy Opposite Day;)**

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><p>Claire12's P.O.V

"Oh, come on, it's not _that_ scary. Besides, we've fought things worse than this. You know, like laser-shooting aliens." I said at Tony, who was curled into a ball on the couch. Bucky, who was now going by his name again, Nat, Clint, Bruce and I were all pulling his strings for not being able to watch The Blaire Witch Project- and we were only a quarter of the way through the movie.

"Yeah, but that was in the daylight and I had my suit on. Plus that little stunt you pulled on me a week ago, yeah that caused permanent damage." He replied back. I laughed and scooted closer to Bucky under his arm.

"Well, good. You learned an important life lesson; Claire will always win the prank war- always." I said, laying my head on Bucky's shoulder. I was still pissed to the highest extent that HYDRA blew up my gift from Phil, actually, I felt like popping the eyes out of every HYDRA agent still out there, but Bucky helped me keep my mind off of it. Thor had gone to see Jane, Darcy and Selvig a few days ago, leaving all of us to figure out something fun to do on our time off. Today was my day to pick what we did, so, of course, I picked movie/hangout day- which no one objected. Although, if Tony knew what movie I was going to pick earlier he might've opted out. He was being a huge baby, not even _Bruce_ was scared, and he turns into a kid with a temper-tantrum on super steroids. We got to the basement scene when I got a text.

_The lobby._

_Steve_

My heart skipped a beat. I told Bucky I was going to get something from my room and tried not to sprint to the elevator. It felt like it moved a tenth of the speed it normally did as it made its way down to the lobby, and I was growing increasingly imatient. My foot was tapping on the floor and I when I finally got down to the base floor I clenched my hands. The doors opened painstakingly slow and when the space was just big enough, I squeezed out. Steve was only a few feet away, so I took a large step and wrapped my arms against him tightly. He chuckled a bit and returned the hug quickly. I let him go after a moment and led him to the elevator.

"JARVIS, could you tell Bucky to meet me in the apartment?" I asked the A.I.

"Of course, Ms. Andrews."

"Thanks, J." I said, leaning back against the railing and pressing the small '65' button and watching the doors close.

"How, how much does he remember?" Steve asked after a few floors.

"From what I can tell, everything. We were taken to a HYDRA base a few days ago, and they wiped him before I got there. He was unconscious and I was trying to find whatever released him from the chair, but found his memories instead. They downloaded them, even the ones he couldn't remember, and stored them away. That's the only thing I like about HYDRA; their shitty choices." I said with a smirk. Really, if HYDRA wasn't so stupid, I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in now. Steve said nothing, but nodded his head. We arrived at the apartment a few minutes later, and I told Steve not to freak out when he sees Bucky, considering I hadn't told him that Steve was coming in the first place. I walked into the apartment slowly, seeing Bucky sitting on the couch. He smiled back at me and I ushered Steve in, Bucky going still.

"Uh, okay, I'm just gonna be going now so you can have your time or whatever, so…." I said quickly and walking towards the door.

"No, stay." I got from both of them. I stopped and looked back at them. I gave Bucky a 'are you sure?' look, to which he nodded to, and shut the door. I walked to the kitchen and stood against the countertop. Bucky got up and walked closer to Steve, but still keeping his distance. They just stared at each other for a while, but I didn't want to interrupt, so I waited. After a moment Bucky spoke.

"Still want your stupid back?" He asked with a small smirk.

"Punk." Steve replied with a small smile.

"Jerk." Bucky pulled Steve into a hug which they remained in wordlessly for a good five minutes. When they finally did break it, they were smiling ear to ear. It was getting awkwardly silent pretty quickly, so I drug them back up to the living room, where it looked like Tony was recovering from his heart attack. Everyone stopped what they were doing to greet Steve once they realized he was in the room. We all got talking and realized we stayed up till 2:00 a.m. Steve, ever being the old man he is, about had a hernia when he realized and went to the apartment Tony saved for him. Everyone else slowly evacuated after that and we went back to our room around 2:45. After so, _so_ many years, I wished life would just stay like this. I've obviously been happy in the years up to this, but I've never felt this content about my situation. We got into the apartment and I took off my shows by the door.

"You know, I could live like this forever and not complain. It's like we just jumped 70 years into the future, and technically we did, but we're finally all together again as cheesy as that sounds." I said with a small laugh at the end. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my stomach, lifting me up into the air.

"You better let me down." I said with a smirk, but my voice not faltering. He just gave me a 'sure' and started walking towards the couch. 'Hm, so that's how you wanna play it?' I swung my legs over his head, making him bend back and ended up with me standing normally. I caught him, and thanks to my strength, held him up.

"Not today, Buchanan." I said with a laugh and dropping him to the ground, a loud 'thud' resonating through the room. He just looked up at me with and I could see a flash of shock in his eyes before he laughed and grabbed my feet from under me, sending me onto my ass _hard._ The air in my lungs left me in a scoffing sound and Bucky pinned me down.

"It's not over until I say it's over." He mockingly quoted, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"I didn't even know you watched Breakin-" I was cut off by a heated kiss. I was a bit surprised at first but quickly returned it was just as much force. The kiss got much more passionate by every passing second and I had a feeling I knew where this was going. I told JARVIS to put the apartment on lockdown mode hurriedly, so no one could interrupt the moment. I felt his hands slip under my shirt, snaking their way across the small of my back. He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him as he moved to the bedroom. I could definitely feel his excitement, considering it was rubbing up against me as he walked, and I smirked into the kiss. He bumped into the doorframe once, which I chuckled at, but made his way into the bedroom and laid me down, not breaking the kiss. He pushed my shirt up, eventually finding its way off my body, his following shortly thereafter. I palmed him through his pants and laughed a bit when he froze from what he was doing for a second. He huffed out a large breath and worked on his belt, a bit shakily I might add. His pants were off soon after that, leaving him in black boxer briefs that looked _astounding _on him. I bit my lip trying not to squeal and worked on my pants, thanking god I didn't wear my belt. I was also glad I wasn't on one of my lazy days and wore matching bra and panties- which may or may not have been red. He smiled and got on top of me, resuming the kiss where we left off. His lips moved from my mouth down my jaw and neck, settling on my chest. My breathing was becoming increasingly quick as Bucky reached behind me, fumbling with my bra clasp. He couldn't quite get it and I could tell he was becoming frustrated.

"Wow, it must've been a while." I said, laughing a bit towards the end. A scowl made its way onto his face and he decided to just rip the clasp apart. It was off of me swiftly after that and I teasingly scoffed.

"That was my favorite bra. And it matched." I said in mock anger. He smirked down at me.

"I'm not sorry." He said before taking a breast into his mouth. I gasped, but rapidly cleared my head. 'He's not getting away with it that easily.' I took two of my fingernail/claws and gently scrapped the sides of his boxers, cutting them off of him. My eyes widened when I realized how big he was and gulped a little bit. I felt him smile on my chest and he worked his way down my stomach, but not stopping there. He slowly pulled my underwear down and I tilted my head back, letting out a shuddering moan as I felt his tongue move around me. If he kept that up much longer, I was a goner. His tongue moved up and made great use of his fingers- maybe it hasn't been as long as I thought it was. I leisurely reached down his chest and gave him a few agonizing slow tugs, making him groan and tremble. I sped up just a bit at a time, him stopping altogether.

"I- don't have any protection." He ground out.

"HYDRA took that possibility away from me a long time ago." I replied. They removed both of my ovaries so when I went on the missions with the _dirtier _work, there was no worry. Of course, I never considered that sex- more like their 'last meal' of sorts sense they lived only a few hours afterwards. Bucky was a bit stunned to hear this, but knew I disliked pity and shook his head, aligning his hips with mine. He gave me a quick glance to make sure I was ready and I nodded cravingly. He slowly pushed into me, making me take a deep breath at his size. He gave me a moment before thrusting, letting me adjust. Once he began, though, I was on cloud nine. My mind was completely blank; the feeling of him was taking everything up. We moaned each other's name, never wanting to stop. Sooner than I hoped, though, I could feel the pressure in the pit of my stomach telling me I was close. Another few thrusts and I fell apart screaming his name, him following me soon after with a mix between a groan and a growl. We were reduced to panting lumps after that, both of us completely exhausted. He laid down beside me, pulling my back into his chest and wrapping his arms around me.

I fell asleep doubting it could ever get better than this.


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey, guys:) I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, but alas, it will be the last one in this series. But, not to worry, it won't be the only chapter I post tonight- I putting up my first chapter of Home, which will be taking place in the same universe, as soon as this one's up. It'll be under the Avengers category and will be a Cap/OC fic, so please go and read it;3**

**Please leave your final reviews and comments, it really helps:)**

**Disclaimer: It has been 25 chapters. 25 whole chapters. But my paranoia of getting sued keeps me putting this up. I do not own Marvel, no I don't. I do not own Marvel on a boat. I do not own Marvel here or there. I do not own Marvel anywhere.**

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><p>Christmas, Avengers Tower, 2014<p>

Claire/12 P.O.V

The last 4 months since we found the map were absolutely exhausting. We found out that our ideas were wrong, it wasn't just HYDRA bases, it was HYDRA and their allies- which was good, but we had to go to them all. The black dots were all HYDRA bases, which were easy to take down, but the red dots were independent programs and, since they weren't spread out, much harder to take down. We had been working every day since Steve got back and were absolutely done going out by now. We skipped Thanksgiving; much to Pepper's dislike, but ate the leftovers like Thor that night. We had even gone to one of the red sights, the last one we visited, actually, and found it like a nuke had gone off. No traces of radiation was found, but we had assumed that they had gotten a signal that we were going around and destroying their allies, so they probably decided to cover their tracks and flee.

We had finished the job just a week before Christmas and were now faced with the problem of finding each other's gifts. I had been smart and thought out each other's gifts since before Steve even got here, but I could tell everyone else was having problems- sans Pepper. So while others were scrambling to the finish, I was calm and prepared. When the day came everyone looked like they had just finished two marathons and decided to go without sleep. Pepper and I had been the ones that were up since 7:00 a.m fixing lunch, and luckily no one dared to get up before then. We had fixed ham, three of them, several pans of casseroles of all kind, enough homemade mashed potatoes to drown in, and at least 6 pies, varying from pecan to coconut crème. And we still thought that wouldn't be enough. Thor had arrived a few days ago, since they don't celebrate Christmas in Asgard, and we had secretly invited Jane and Darcy. What only I knew though, was that I gave Thor a Santa suit complete with beard, hair and sack telling that it was a Christmas honor, and to keep it a secret. He graciously accepted to wear it.

So, when the day came, all the presents, which seemed to add up to more than a hundred, were piled under the beautiful tree Tony had gotten. I knew everyone was still tired from our recent escapades and told JARVIS not to wake anyone up until noon. Pepper and I set the table and hung mistletoe over the elevator entrance- some may say that's cheating, but all is fair on Christmas. Soon enough the elevator started dinging people's arrival, and I smiled bigger than a fat man at a buffet. First to arrive was Steve and Bucky, as usual, and when I stopped them from going anywhere after leaving the elevator they had only a momentary pause of confusion before looking up. Bucky gave me a very intimidating eye whereas Steve looked at him with a huge smirk. If we were cartoons, Bucky definitely would've had smoke seeping from his ears.

"Aww, come on babe, have some holiday spirit." I say, laughs breaking my words. Steve surprised me though when he quickly pecked Bucky's cheek. I almost peed myself, Bucky on the other hand just stood there like a statue with a stunned look plastered on his face. Tony arrived right around that time, alone unfortunately, and saw the expressions on Bucky's face.

"Why did the Tin Man freeze?" He asked, waving his hand in front of Bucky's face. He frowned more than I thought possible, but, thankfully, before I had to intervene, the elevator doors opened once more with lightening striking out of them. Everyone turned to see my best 'prank' yet. The room was silent, and I could hear a needle drop from the Christmas tree. Thor looked at me, dressed excellently in his Santa costume, and I winked at him, trying to get him to remember what he was supposed to say. It rushed back to him and he hollered out 'HO HO HO!' loud enough to shake the floors and windows. I gave him a thumbs up before everyone burst into laughter. I have never heard any of the people in the room laugh as much as they did, and everyone had tears in their eyes. We probably laughed for five minutes, leaving Thor very confused, and were joined by Clint, Nat and Bruce. I had to gulp a breath so I didn't pass out and tried to explain.

"I-I told *laugh* I told Thor that dressing as Santa was a _holiday honor." _I told everyone. We all started laughing again and Pepper was the one that had to return order. We all calmed down after a few moments and I set everyone down at the table. I looked at the clock and was a bit worried the surprise guests wouldn't make it when the elevator doors opened again and in strolled Jane and Darcy. They had two very different reactions at their reunion; Darcy more surprised than anything and Jane looked like she could care less if Thor was in rags. Thor barely manages to get out a 'Lady Jane!' before she talked him into a hug, Darcy walking over to me.

"Did you set this up?" She smirked, gesturing to Thor's clothes.

"Who else?" I chuckled back.

"Nicely played." She said before sitting down at her spot. We quickly dug in, everyone giving muffled thanks at Pepper and I's cooking skills. All of us with normal stomachs- Nat, Clint, Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Tony and I were thoroughly full, whereas everyone else- Thor, Bruce, Steve and Bucky looked like they could eat three more of everything, but stopped when all the food was gone. We huddled over to the tree, all of us finding places on the couches and waiting for someone to pick a person to pass out the presents. We boiled it down to Thor, mainly because he was dressed as Santa, and watched him pass out presents as quickly as he could. We all ended up with around 10 presents, and went around the room taking turns opening one. Tony went first, shredding the wrapping paper in less than a second. He opened Thor's present first- an Asgardian helmet, looking like a much more badass version of his suit's helmet. Pepper went next, getting a month's worth of spa days at her favorite spa and the dress she had been eyeing for months- courtesy of moi. Bruce went next, getting some fancy molecule thing from Tony, but from his facial features it was much better than 'some fancy molecule thing'. Bucky opened his gift from Steve, and received the only picture of all three of us in Brooklyn, before we joined the military. He made the picture larger and framed it; it was when I graduated- Bucky and Steve hanging an arm around my waist while I was in my cap and gown. I opened Bruce's and Tony's split gift and saw a small vile. I looked up at them somewhat confused and they explained to me.

"When you had your leg surgery, we took a sample of your blood and made _that._ It speeds up your aging, well makes you age again. It also means that you stay dead, but only when you die of old age." Bruce told me. My mouth hung open.

"So, so you're telling me that when I take this-" I said, pointing to the small shot, "- I can age again." They nodded.

"Yeah, it takes just like a normal shot-" Tony started. He stopped when I quickly pushed the needle into my arm, pressing down on the plunger and letting the liquid seep into my body. I thanked them several times, and even teared up a bit. My 'immortality' made me sick when I thought about it; thinking that Bucky would die somehow and I would just be _stuck_. I wiped away a tear and tried to get everyone to continue on with the presents, so we did.

The highlight selections of the evening was Thor's gift to Clint; a bow that looked like it came from Avatar- Tony's gift to Steve; a pink, sparkling version of his shield, with a Hello Kitty face winking in the center, and Darcy's gift to Tony; How Not to be and Egotist for Dummies. Everyone laughed at that one except for the man himself, who simply replied 'Where did you even find this?'

The next hour was full of laughs and served as a well-needed break for everyone. All the 'pairs' in the room were about to open their gifts from their each other when there was a loud 'thump' on the balcony and the glass doors shattered. In crawled a woman, maybe 22, only using one arm. Her legs splayed out at odd angles, signs of a shattered pelvis, her arm that she wasn't using looked hyper-extended and her face had several lacerations, a black eye, and it was easy to see the tears running down. She pulled herself inside, a tortured expression marking her. From the way she looked she was a millimeter from death. She whispered one word before falling unconscious:

"Help."


End file.
